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HALF SPOON OF RICE

Name: HALF SPOON OF RICE
Author: Icy Smith
ISBN: 978-0-9821675-8-8

A SURVIVAL STORY OF THE CAMBODIAN GENOCIDE

by Icy Smith and illustrated by Sopaul Nhem ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2010

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This fictionalized first-person account of a young boy in Cambodia during the reign of the Khmer Rouge may be perplexing in package but is very important in education. Nine-year-old Nat and his family are forced to leave their home and march with millions of other Cambodians to harsh labor camps. They work in rice fields from dawn until midnight, often only surviving—as the title indicates—on a half spoon of rice per day. Uneven in quality and at times contradictory to the text, Nhem’s shadowy oil paintings depict the horrors of war: soldiers with pointed guns and fallen bodies on the path. But courage and hope prevail. Nat finds a friend, and after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, he is reunited with his family. Though not exemplary and certainly not for the younger picture-book set, this story could find a home as a read-aloud in middle-school lessons on discrimination or higher-level explorations of genocide. An extensive author’s note provides detailed historical context and archival photographs at the end; there are no source notes beyond an acknowledgment to the Documentation Center of Cambodia. (map, foreword) (Picture book. 10-14)

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2010

ISBN: 978-0-9821675-8-8

Page Count: 44

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2009

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

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New York Times Bestseller

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REFUGEE

by Alan Gratz ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 25, 2017

Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense.

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Awards & Accolades

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17

Our Verdict

GET IT

Google Rating

Kirkus Reviews'
Best Books Of 2017

New York Times Bestseller

Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner

In the midst of political turmoil, how do you escape the only country that you’ve ever known and navigate a new life? Parallel stories of three different middle school–aged refugees—Josef from Nazi Germany in 1938, Isabel from 1994 Cuba, and Mahmoud from 2015 Aleppo—eventually intertwine for maximum impact.

Three countries, three time periods, three brave protagonists. Yet these three refugee odysseys have so much in common. Each traverses a landscape ruled by a dictator and must balance freedom, family, and responsibility. Each initially leaves by boat, struggles between visibility and invisibility, copes with repeated obstacles and heart-wrenching loss, and gains resilience in the process. Each third-person narrative offers an accessible look at migration under duress, in which the behavior of familiar adults changes unpredictably, strangers exploit the vulnerabilities of transients, and circumstances seem driven by random luck. Mahmoud eventually concludes that visibility is best: “See us….Hear us. Help us.” With this book, Gratz accomplishes a feat that is nothing short of brilliant, offering a skillfully wrought narrative laced with global and intergenerational reverberations that signal hope for the future. Excellent for older middle grade and above in classrooms, book groups, and/or communities looking to increase empathy for new and existing arrivals from afar.

Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense. (maps, author’s note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)