Boo Nawigamune, a little eight-year-old Thai girl, is poor, but smart, and wants to be a doctor. Her father had leukemia and will die soon. With eight children, her mother cannot support all of them and Boo is sent to an orphanage far away. Pa Joe meets her at the Songkhala station and takes her to the orphanage where there are homeless children of various ages. Everyone is friendly and although she misses her family, Boo feels she will have a wonderful life there. To surprise Pa for his birthday, Boo and the kids decide to have a large fish Pa caught stuffed. To pay for this, they make jam, which they sell to local hotels. Boo learns that her father has died and is devastated.
One day a young Australian, Jack, heartbroken because he broke up with his finance, comes to Pa Joe’s place and Pa invites him to stay until he feels better. Soon, Joe makes friends with all the children, taking them on picnics. While on the beach once, a tsunami sweeps in and Jack drowns, but all the kids are safe. Everyone misses him and Boo loses interest in things after that, but her bubbling spirits quickly return. A dormitory fire traps several children and Boo helps them escape. With Pa Joe’s Place badly damaged, the local hotel owner insists the children stay there at no charge. To help rebuild the place, Pa’s army friend brings supplies. Many people in Australia who knew Jack write to her and send money to help Pa and the kids.
Hoei, Boo! With Pa Joe’s Place, Clancy Tucker has created an extraordinary piece of writing. From the first page, I fell in love with little Boo’s unpretentious yet endearing character, as will every reader, whether young or young at heart. Wherever Boo goes, she touches people in a special way. Told from a child’s perspective, the story doesn’t have much of a plot, but what Clancy Tucker offers will tug at every reader’s heartstrings, which more than makes up for that small deficiency. The novel has superb writing with excellent narrative and dialogue; a jewel. This book can be read more than once, revealing flashes of pleasure that may have been missed before.
Pa Joe’s Place also plunges the reader into aspects of Thai culture and the harsh life of its people struggling to survive in an environment tourists perceive as idyllic. Given this glimpse, the reader will be tempted to visit Singkhala for himself and see that land through Boo’s eyes. The ending is sure to leave the reader tearful. This is a story no one will forget soon.
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Clancy Tucker