"I see some terrible things and I do not want to die." Based on the stories of survivors, this stirring picture book for older readers tells of the Cambodian genocide in a present-tense narrative from the viewpoint of Nat, nine, who is driven from his city home by the Khmer Rouge in 1975, separated from his parents, and forced to labor in the fields. The brutality is ever-present, and dramatic oil paintings show the stream of survivors, the family's breakup, people being shot for disobeying orders, and others who die of starvation. While foraging in the woods, Nat meets a young girl, Malis. Four years later, after the soldiers leave, the children reach a Thai refugee camp, where Nat finds his parents, who take Malis with them when they leave for San Francisco in 1979. The long, readable author's note, paired with sepia-toned photos and a map, tells more of the horrific history, including the role of the U.S., whose secret war in Cambodia fueled support for the Khmer Rouge. An important addition to the Holocaust curriculum.

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)

Gr 5-8 Young Nat narrates this harrowing story of his family's experience during the Cambodian genocide of the mid-to-late '70s, when a quarter of the country's population "died of starvation, torture, or execution." The Khmer Rouge army evacuated millions of citizens to the countryside in an effort to create a classless society of peasant farmers. Subsisting on watery rice soup, Nat's family walks for days until they reach a rice field where the children, men, and women are all separated. Along the way, the boy befriends Malis, a girl his age who cannot find her family. At one point, on the verge of starvation, he sneaks off and finds a frog and pulls its legs off to eat. "It tastes horrible, but it satisfies my stomach." Days, months, and years pass until the Vietnamese Liberation Army finally frees them. Though Nat eventually finds his parents, who adopt Malis, the journey is treacherous. "We are shocked to see so many dead bodies along our routewe sometimes walk on top of the bodies to avoid stepping on a mine." An author's note gives background information about the Cambodian genocide. Bold, impressionistic oil paintings, mainly full page but some full spreads, speak volumes, and archival photographs are appended. This powerful child's-eye view of war is harsh and realisticlike its subjectthough accessible and thought-provoking. Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public Schools