A poignant coming-of-age story told in two alternating voices: a California teenager railing against the Vietnamese culture,juxtaposed with her father as an eleven-year-old boat person on a harrowing and traumatic refugee journey from Vietnam to the United States. San Jose1999. Jane knows her Vietnamese dad can’t control his temper. Lost in a stupid daydreamshe forgot to pick up her seven-year-old brotherPaulfrom school. Inside their homeshe hands her dad the stick he hits her with. This is how it’s always been. She deserves this. Not because she forgot to pick up Paulbut because at the end of the summer she’s going to leave him when she goes away to college. As Paul retreats inwardJane realizes she must explain where their dad’s anger comes from. The problem isshe doesn’t quite understand it herself. Đà Nẵng1975. Phúc (pronounced /fo͞ok/rhymes with duke) is eleven the first time his mother walks him through a field of mines he’s always been warned never to enter. Guided by cracks of moonlightPhúc moves past fallen airplanes and battle debris to a refugee boat. But before the sun even has a chance to risemore than half the people aboard will perish. This is only the beginning of Phúc’s perilous journey across the Pacificwhich will be fraught with Thai piratesan unrelenting oceanstarvationhallucinationand the unfortunate murder of a panda. Told in the alternating voices of Jane and PhúcMy FatherThe Panda Killer is an unflinching story about war and its impact across multiple generationsand how one American teenager forges a path toward accepting her heritage and herself.