Kim Ha is a sister to many brothers.

Kim Ha is taking care of a papaya tree.

Kim Ha cares a lot for her mother so much, she got the nickname 'Mother's Tail' because she is always following Mother.

Kim Ha makes a promise with Brother Khoi to never leave their home. Kim Ha doesn't want to leave behind her papaya tree, and Brother Quang doesn't want to leave behind his chick.

Kim Ha has to leave Saigon on a boat and she is not happy about it.

Kim Ha dislikes the food on the ship.

Kim Ha believes that her family's sponsor is a cowboy.

Kim Ha does NOT like her school, she is getting bullied and her class makes her feel dumb.

Kim Ha finds the English language confusing with all the random rules.

Kim Ha stood up to Pink Boy with the help of her brothers Khoi and Vu.

Kim Ha was the first to bring up the fact Father probably won't come back out loud.

Mother wants the best for her children.

Mother works as a secretary in a navy office on week days.

Mother grew up in the North, but had to leave for the South to get away from communism. This led to them being cut off from their families when the North and South closed their borders.

Mother has an Amethyst ring from Father that she keeps when the family flees Saigon.

Mother is almost constantly sad and/or worried.

Mother often tries to make the best of bad situations, like when she tried to act positive when they didn't have enough rice.

Mother was against leaving Saigon at first. But she wanted her children to grow up in a better environment, so she decided that they should leave.

Mother is a very religious person, and continued to practice her non-christian religious rituals after being baptized.

Father got captured while out on a navy mission by communists, and he's been missing for the past nine years.

A couple of Father's favorite foods were stewed eels, and pâté chaud pastries.

Father cared for his children deeply, he would grow teary watching them sleep.

A few things Father hated was the afternoon sun, the color brown, and cold rice.

Father used to say tuyết sút, which meant 'right way' in french to get Mother to laugh

Father gifted Mother an Amethyst ring from America.

Father was born in the North, but had the leave for the South with Mother to get away from communism.

Father is assumed to be dead by the end of the book, after Mother lost the Amethyst ring.

Brother Khoi is very caring towards animals.

Brother Khoi tries to hatch his chicken eggs instead of eating them in hopes of being able to raise chicks.

Brother Khoi used to take care of fighting fish.

Brother Khoi is able to hatch a chick after a long time of trying. Brother Khoi now doesn't want to leave his home because he doesn't want to leave his chick behind.

Brother Khoi's chick dies in his pocket during their time on the boat, but he didn't want to leave it.

Brother Khoi wouldn't talk much at all when they first got to America.

Brother Khoi got two pet fighting fish for Christmas in America.

Brother Khoi tried to help Kim Ha deal with Pink Boy.

Brother Vu cares a lot about the people he idolizes and strives to be like them.

Brother Vu wanted to leave Saigon, but most of his reasoning was probably just the fact he wanted to walk the same ground Bruce Lee walked.

Brother Vu taught people self defence.

Brother Vu is quite good at cooking/preparing food.

Brother Vu drives something similar to a motorcycle to get around in America.

Brother Vu helps out Kim Ha and Brother Khoi with the Pink Boy situation at the end of the book.

Brother Vu decides he wants to be a cook later on.

Brother Vu has a lot of admirers, and that stops a lot of kids from bullying Kim Ha when he picks her up from school.

Brother Quang goes to college and is very smart with his words.

Brother Quang knows quite a bit of English.

Brother Quang is very proud to be South Vietnamese, and does not want to flee the country.

On the ship, Brother Quang would teach a bit of English to the others.

Brother Quang get sponsored by Cowboy.

Brother Quang ends up translating a lot in America being the only one in the family that could speak English.

Brother Quang fixes up a car no one else was able to repair.

Brother Quang is able to go to night school to restudy engineering in the end.

Cowboy is Kim Ha's family's sponsor.

Cowboy gives Kim Ha's family KFC.

Cowboy and his wife are Christians.

Cowboy is married to a woman that doesn't really like Kim Ha' family.

Cowboy gives gifts to Kim Ha's family.

Miss Scott is Kim Ha's fourth grade teacher.

Miss Scott doesn't seem to really know how to help Kim Ha or teach her.

Miss Scott doesn't know Kim Ha's name at first because she thought Kim Ha was just laughing when she told her.

Miss Scott treats Kim Ha like she knows nothing.

Miss Scott

Mississ Washington is a very nice elderly woman who was the first of Kim Ha's neighbors that was friendly towards them.

Mississ Washington teaches Kim Ha how to speak English by giving her one word each day and it's meaning, and then giving her food if she'd memorized it by the end of the day.

Mississ Washington had a son in the army that died in the Vietnam war.

Mississ Washington cares a lot for Kim Ha.

Mississ Washington has comforted Kim Ha after she heard about Pink Boy.

Pink Boy has a VERY pink face and short light blonde hair

Pink Boy is a jerk to Ha from the start, and nags at Ha.

Pink Boy follows Ha around after school, teasing her.

Pink Boy gets angry at Ha when she answers a math question easily while he was struggling with it in front of the class.

Pink Boy attempts to beat up Ha with his older cousin, but fails terribly.

Pam and Steven are the first to act friendly towards Kim Ha in school.

Pam has long red hair, and can only wear dressed that go below her calves.

Pam is very sweet, she gifted Ha a pretty doll with long black hair.

Steven has "coconut shell skin," a bald head, and dresses fancy everyday.

Steven and Pam try to help Ha with Pink Boy.

Cowboy's Wife probably didn't like the idea of being a sponsor considering how she treated Ha's family.

Cowboy's Wife was standoffish from the beginning when Ha's family first got there.

Cowboy's Wife tells Kim Ha's family not to go outside because she doesn't want people seeing them.

Cowboy's Wife only smiles when they're in front of the church together