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Small Bamboo is journalist Tracy Vo’s memoir about growing up as a first-generation Australian, her family’s escape from Vietnam and the difficulty of feeling that she belonged. In a 2014 interview, Vo recalled being bullied over her skin colour from the age of six and said those experiences shaped her into adulthood.
What is Small Bamboo about?
In a 28 April 2014 interview with PerthNow, journalist Wendy Caccetta described Small Bamboo as a memoir combining Vo’s family history with her own childhood in Australia. The book recounts her parents’ flight from Vietnam and her experience growing up as a first-generation Australian.
Vo’s account connects a family’s upheaval and resettlement with a child’s search for identity. The title’s “two worlds” framing reflects the tension between her Vietnamese family background and the life she was building in Australia.
What struggles did Vo write about?
Bullying over her skin colour
Vo told Caccetta that she was singled out over her skin colour when she was six. The bullying continued through primary and high school, and Vo said the insecurity it caused about where she belonged stayed with her into adulthood.
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Uncertainty about belonging
For Vo, the difficulty was not only being targeted by other children; it was also working out how she fit between her family’s background and her Australian upbringing. She described that uncertainty as something other children from different backgrounds, including children of refugees, might recognise: “Kids who come from different backgrounds or their parents are refugees, I think there is a difficulty because they don’t really know where they belong,” she said.
How did Vo’s family come to settle in Perth?
Caccetta’s 2014 report says Vo’s parents met in Vietnam in 1976. In April 1978, they and members of the Vo family escaped Vietnam by boat, reached Malaysia and were approved to resettle in Australia. They eventually settled in Perth. These are details as reported in that 2014 account.
Why did Vo want to tell her story?
Vo hoped the memoir would offer reassurance to young people dealing with bullying or feeling out of place, and help break down cultural barriers. She described the kind of recognition she wanted readers to find in it: “If kids can read it through high school and they are going through the same thing they can read it and feel ‘OK, this is how I feel as well and I can get through it’,” she said.
What was Vo’s journalism background at the time?
By the time of the 2014 interview, Vo had studied journalism at Curtin University and worked at a Sydney radio station, Sky News and Channel Nine. Caccetta reported that Vo had returned to Perth. These are career details from 2014, not a statement of her current role.
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When was Small Bamboo released?
The 2014 article identified Allen & Unwin as the publisher and said the memoir was due in bookstores on 1 May 2014 at a launch price of $29.99. That is a historical release price and date; the report does not establish current editions, stock or pricing.
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