Book
Children of the River
Children of the River is a young adult novel by Linda Crew about a Cambodian refugee girl growing up in Oregon, first published in 1989.[1][2] Its heroine, Sundara Sovann, weighs her family's expectations against a new life in America.[2]
About the book
At thirteen, Sundara fled Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge army with her aunt's family.[2] She left behind her parents, her brother and sister, and Chamroeun, the boy she had loved since childhood.[2][1] The family crossed the sea on a crowded boat with hundreds of other refugees, and her aunt Soka's newborn baby died on the journey.[1][3]
Four years later, in 1979, Sundara is 17 and a student at an Oregon high school.[3][2] She works with Soka for a farmer, Mr. Bonner, and at his fruit stand in the market she meets Jonathan McKinnon, an American boy from her school.[1] At home a good Cambodian girl does not date and waits for her family to arrange her marriage to a Cambodian boy.[2] Sundara and Jonathan are drawn to each other, while she grieves for her lost family and her old life and asks whether happiness in America would be disloyal to her past and her people.[2][4] She does not know what became of her family in Cambodia, and learns of Chamroeun's death.[3][1] The story also touches on letters to strangers in refugee camps and on Cambodian beliefs about karma and touching a child's head.[3]
Crew spent a year researching Cambodia's history and culture before writing the first draft.[1]
Publication and editions
Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers published the novel in New York in 1989.[1] It is written for readers ages 12 and up, grade 7 and above, with a Lexile level of 700L.[2][4]
- 1989, Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers: ISBN 0-440-21022-4[1]
- August 1, 1991, Laurel Leaf mass-market paperback: ISBN 9780440210221, 240 pages[2]
- January 21, 2009, ebook: 224 pages[2]
Reception
The novel was named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults and a Golden Kite Honor Book by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.[1] Its other honors include:
- 1990: IRA Children's Book Award for Older Readers[2][1]
- 1991: Texas Lonestar Reading List[2]
- 1992: Washington Evergreen Young Adult Book Award[2]
Kirkus Reviews called it "A powerful first novel," and School Library Journal wrote that it honors the goodness of humankind even in inhumane circumstances.[2]