Children of the River
Mass Market
Random House Children's Books · Paperback · August 1, 1991
Sundara fled Cambodia with her aunt's family to escape the Khmer Rouge army when she was thirteen, leaving behind her parents, her brother and sister, and the boy she had loved since she was a child.
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- Who it’s for
- Love and family duty meet amid grief, migration, and the search for belonging.
- Themes
- Cultural identity and belonging, Grief and displacement, Love and loyalty to the past
- Genres
- Immigration for Teens, Coming of Age, Historical YA - Asia
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Start with this bookAbout this book
Sundara fled Cambodia with her aunt's family to escape the Khmer Rouge army when she was thirteen, leaving behind her parents, her brother and sister, and the boy she had loved since she was a child. Now, four years later, she struggles to fit in at her Oregon high school and to be "a good Cambodian girl" at home. A good Cambodian girl never dates; she waits for her family to arrange her marriage to a Cambodian boy.
Continue reading
Yet Sundara and Jonathan, an extraordinary American boy, are powerfully drawn to each other. Haunted by grief for her lost family and for the life left behind, Sundara longs to be with him. At the same time she wonders, Are her hopes for happiness and new life in America disloyal to her past and her people?
Love and Belonging
Love and family duty meet amid grief, migration, and the search for belonging.
Come here for
- A young woman caught between Cambodian family expectations and new hopes
- Romance threaded through grief and questions of loyalty
Expect
- Tension between family obligations and a life remade in America
- A coming-of-age shaped by longing and belonging
Where it sits
| Historical YA - Asia | 74% |
|---|---|
| Coming of Age | 72% |
| Immigration for Teens | 68% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Coming of Age
- Multigenerational YA Stories
- Immigration for Teens
- Authors
- Linda Crew
- Publisher
- Random House Children's Books
- Published
- August 1, 1991
- Format
- Paperback
- Theme
- Cultural identity and belonging · Grief and displacement · Love and loyalty to the past
- Reading lane
- Coming of Age