Kirkus Reviews

Written in collaboration with his college literature professor, Keat tells the compelling story of how he survived the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. The fifth of eight children, Nawuth was nine when the Khmer Rouge came to his small village. Nawuth's father was a successful rice farmer, making the family one of its most prosperous—and a prime target for the Khmer Rouge, which captures and enslaves them. Forced to labor with hunger and physical brutality as constants, Nawuth eventually loses his parents, younger sister and several other members of his family; his resourcefulness and determination to keep the rest alive are inspiring. His recollections are vivid and often horrific, though the disjointed narrative sometimes makes it difficult to follow the chronology. As compelling and poignant as Nawuth's personal story is, though, the lack of any historical context is a significant oversight. Without even an introduction or historical note to guide them, young readers will not understand what the Khmer Rouge was or why it engaged in a genocidal campaign against its own people, rendering this moving memoir incomplete. (time line) (Memoir. 12-16)

Horn Book (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2010)

With Martha E. Kendall. This riveting memoir begins in 1973 when the Khmer Rouge attack the Cambodian village of nine-year-old Nawuth, killing five of his family members. His stamina and resourcefulness as he and his remaining family endure unthinkable horrors is astonishing. Readers take comfort knowing upfront that Nawuth is alive today, and, with the help of his professor, Kendall, sharing his extraordinary tale. Timeline.

ALA Booklist (Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

Just nine years old in 1973 when the Khmer Rouge raided his Cambodian village, Nawuth survived the massacre, but he saw his family shot and murdered. Forced to slave in the rice fields, he saw daily killings and torture, though "more people died from starvation than from bullets." He finally escaped with what was left of his family and journeyed through the jungle, making it across the border to a crowded U.N. refugee camp in Thailand. Sponsored by a U.S. family, he ended up in San Jose, California, and years later, he told his story to his city-college teacher, Kendall. She wrote down his terse first-person narrative, as he remembered "endless work, endless hunger, and endless fear." The teen's viewpoint will draw YA readers into the history. An important title to add to the Holocaust curriculum, this will also partner well with Mark Bixler's The Lost Boys of Sudan (2005).

School Library Journal (Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

Gr 6 Up-At age nine, Keat was rousted from his bed by Khmer Rouge soldiers. After savagely murdering most of his family, they shot him three times and left him for dead. Miraculously, he survived, only to spend the next few years fighting for his life and running from the Khmer Rouge along with his remaining family members. Eventually, he and his siblings made their way to a refugee camp where his older sister bought his freedom. In this memoir, written with the assistance of his college professor, Keat paints a poignant portrait of life as a child in Cambodia in the 1970s. His skills, cunning, and sheer will to survive enabled him to endure devastating occurrences and difficult living conditions. The story is not for the faint of heart, as suffering torture at the hands of soldiers, subsisting solely off of rice chaff, and being forced to sleep among human remains are only some of the atrocities he suffered. Keat's story is compelling and concise, and readers will find themselves invested in his eventual escape. Kelly McGorray, Glenbard South High School, Glen Ellyn, IL

Voice of Youth Advocates

When the Khmer Rouge came to his village, burning the grass-roofed huts and shooting people randomly, Nawuth and his family hid in a ditch. Tricked into revealing their presence, his grandmother is shot first, pleading for their lives, and then his uncle, aunt, and babysitter. A single bullet pierces his mother and baby sister. Nawuth, only eleven, is shot three times, but survives by pretending to be dead. In the horrific months after, Nawuth, his surviving family members, and thousands of Cambodians are stripped of their possessions and forced to work long hours in rice fields. Occasionally Nawuth is reunited with his father, who eluded the enemy for a time by hiding in the jungle. Starved and tortured, brutally force-marched from place to place, the little family somehow stays together while around them many are being slaughtered. After three hellish years the Vietnamese invade Cambodia, bringing some relief. But life is still so full of hardship that NawuthÆs older sister and her husband seek a way of escape for all of them. Told with stark simplicity, NawuthÆs narrative is memorable yet accessible to young readers. Biographer Kendall notes in the foreword that the sentences are hers but the life story is his. This book and four companion titles each won the Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Award. ùMartha K. Unruh.