The Latehomecomer

The Latehomecomer

• Genre: Nonfiction; memoir/autobiography
• Originally Published: 2008
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 890L; grades 8-12; college/adult
• Structure/Length: 15 chapters and prologue; approximately 277 pages; approximately 9 hours, 23 minutes on audio
• Central Concern: This memoir tells the story of Kao Kalia Yang’s family and their experiences as Hmong refugees. The narrative recounts the family’s harrowing escape from Laos following the Vietnam War, their time in a Thai refugee camp, and their eventual resettlement in the United States. Yang details the struggles, sacrifices, and resilience of her family as they adapt to a new life while trying to preserve their Hmong heritage and identity.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Descriptions of war and its aftermath; refugee experiences, including life in refugee camps; loss, cultural dislocation, and assimilation challenges; brief references to sexual assault and miscarriage

Kao Kalia Yang, Author

• Bio: Born in 1980 in Ban Vinai Refugee Camp, Thailand; Hmong American writer, teacher, and public speaker; often explores the experiences of the Hmong community in the United States and the complexities of refugee life
• Other Works: The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father (2016); Somewhere in the Unknown World: A Collective Refugee Memoir (2020)
• Awards: The Minnesota Book Award: Memoir/Creative Nonfiction and Reader’s Choice (2009)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Guide:

• Minority Identity
• Spirituality
• Cultural and Familial Ties as a Source of Resilience

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Teaching Guide, students will:

• Deepen their knowledge of Hmong history and the Secret War to increase understanding of the text’s themes, context, and conflict.
• Discuss paired texts and other brief resources to make connections to cultural and textual elements via the text’s themes of Minority Identity, Spirituality, and Cultural and Familial Ties as a Source of Resilience.
• Research Hmong storytelling forms and use storytelling principles inspired by these forms to convey a memoir theme; reflect on the differences between storytelling mediums.
• Examine and appraise the author’s purpose and techniques to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding the memoir’s contrasting settings, the role of family, Yang’s education, and other topics.