Book Review - The House of Sixty Fathers

Book Review

The House of Sixty Fathers

Meindert Dejong

 

 Tien Pao is all alone in enemy territory. Only a few days before, his family had escaped from the Japaneses army, fleeing downriver by boat. Then came a terrible rainstorm, Tien Pao was fast asleep in the little sampan when the boat broke loose from its moorings and drifted right back to the Japanese soldiers. With only his lucky pig for company, Tien Pao must begin a long and dangerous journey in search of his home and family.

 Tien Pao helps an American airman, he saves his life! An amazing story of love and friendship during war.

"It is Tien Pao," she said again. "And tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow-and all the days to come-there will still be my little son. And the house won't be too empty and the anxious heart too full...Ah, tomorrow, and tomorrow, and then will come a day when there will be no more shooting, and no more running from the shooting, and no war. There will come a day when the little family of Tien will go back to their  little village, and live in peace. Ah, tomorrow and tomorrow. Ah, ah, ah."

She had no more words. She choked on them and her tears streamed. And there came his father, and his mother was clutching him fiercely again. There sat the lieutenant half turned, and he did not understand what his mother had said. Ah, but he did understand. He understood! The heart understands without words.