Nevery Fall Down- May 10

Grade: A

Another solid historical fiction (but not so fictional) novel from Patricia McCormick.

When soldiers arrive at his hometown in Cambodia, Arn is just a kid, dancing to rock 'n' roll, hustling for spare change, and selling ice cream with his brother. But after the soldiers march the entire population into the countryside, his life is changed forever. Arn is separated from his family and assigned to a labor camp: working in the rice paddies under a blazing sun, he sees the other children, weak from hunger, malaria, or sheer exhaustion, dying before his eyes. He sees prisoners marched to a nearby mango grove, never to return. And he learns to be invisible to the sadistic Khmer Rouge, who can give or take away life on a whim. -summary provided by Amazon

You'd have to have a heart of stone to not be thinking about this one long after the last page. Like all of her books, McCormick takes the brutality of the world and turns it into a triumph of the human spirit. Highly recommended!

Next up: Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore, May 17
 

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