On Loan

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. The rather tasteless cover and the uneven quality of the 'Winners' series lowered my expectations somewhat. My apprehensions proved ill-founded as a carefully handled story of the traumas of adoption unravelled. Lindy, a Vietnamese girl, was adopted when she was three by an Australian family who believed that both her parents were dead. On her fourteenth birthday Lindy's father contacts her and makes it plain that he wants her to join him in Vietnam. Lindy's internal struggle is clearly and simply documented and there is a real attempt to deal with the issues raised by the situation. My criticism is that other tensions -- race and color -- are never really discussed, and yet they form an integral part of Lindy's dilemma. Offer this selectively to interested children from the second year upwards or use it as a basis for sensitive discussion about adoption and its attendant problems.