Children of the River

Seventeen-year-old Sundara often thinks about how far she has come. Fleeing the Khmer Rouge army, she escaped from Cambodia with her aunt and traveled to the United States. Now she is a high school student in Oregon, but her aunt still expects her to be a traditional Cambodian girl. Through shared interests, Sundara becomes friends with Jonathan, a handsome classmate. Although she knows she is risking her aunt’s disfavor, the young woman feels her affection for Jonathan changing into love. As the differences between American customs and Cambodian beliefs become more apparent to her each day, Sundara desperately looks for some way to resolve them. Children of the River won an International Reading Association Children’s Book Award and is a Golden Kite Honor Book. The author, Linda Crew lives on a farm in Oregon, where Cambodian workers inspired her to write this moving novel. Christina Moore’s narration captures Sundara’s courage, struggles, and joys.