HELLO, MY NAME IS SCRAMBLED EGGS

by Jamie Gilson ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 1985

The fumbling hero of Harvey the Beer Can King and his nemesis Quint Calkins, a lightweight and a heavy, didn't exactly beg to be brought back--but Gilson gives them something substantial to fight over now in the person of Vietnamese refugee Tuan Nguyen and his family. The Nguyens, ""project"" of hearty minister Jeff Zito, are to stay with Harvey's family for their first, strange weeks in Pittsfield; and Harvey, short a couple of friends, envisions Tuan as a substitute and a double: ""a kid I could teach whatever I wanted to,"" with the aid of Felix A. Computer. Quint, taunting Harvey about his ""clone,"" also mutters darkly about Vietnamese taking jobs away from Americans--his brother's a surly, out-of-work Vietnam vet--and sets out deviously to 1) discredit Harvey with Tuan and 2) dislodge the Nguyens from Pittsfield. Harvey's zeal in programming Tuan--not only feeding him American words, but giving him the American name Tom--lets Quint pose as Tuan's playmate and cultural protector. He encourages Tuan to teach the kids to play marbles, for instance. But Tuan has his own strengths (math, soccer, a ""creative"" Halloween pumpkin) and his own mind (""I will be American. . . but my name is Tuan Nguyen""); while the elder Nguyens' loneliness is conveniently assuaged by securing another Vietnamese family for Pittsfield. The foiling of Quint is crude stuff, and Tuan is a model of healthy adaptation; but the farce allows for a fair amount of good-natured humor about understanding (and misunderstanding) the newcomer-Vietnamese.

Pub Date: March 15, 1985

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1985

Categories: FICTION