Arn's chilling history pulls no punches, trusting its readers to cope with the reality of children forced to participate in murder, torture, sexual exploitation and genocide. Arn does what he must to survive-and, wherever possible, to protect a small pocket of children and adults around him. Arn doesn't understand what the Khmer Rouge stands for he only knows that over the next several years he and the other children shrink away on a handful of rice a day, while the corpses of adults pile ever higher in the mango grove.
McCormick's version begins when the Khmer Rouge marches into 11-year-old Arn's Cambodian neighborhood and forces everyone into the country. McCormick, known for issue-oriented realism, offers a fictionalized retelling of Chorn-Pond's youth for older readers. The childhood of Arn Chorn-Pond has been captured for young readers before, in Michelle Lord and Shino Arihara's picture book, A Song for Cambodia (2008). Why, in a pivotal scene, should readers agree that her friend Beth is too naïve to run a safe house? What fuels Ember's opposition to fighters targeting government officials even though other resistance members support it? Tensions among Ember, Chase and the pair's old enemy Tucker Morris run high, but when none of the trio makes an effort at communication, their interactions quickly become repetitive.Ī slog, with perhaps enough moments between Ember and Chase to appease romance devotees.Ī harrowing tale of survival in the Killing Fields. Too often, Ember's motivations are assumed to be obvious, when in fact many readers may not share her assumptions. Characters spend more time reacting to dangers than planning for them, and thoughtful readers may be frustrated when even the climactic rescue operation is carried out with relatively little forethought.
A mission to rescue Rebecca, Ember's roommate from the reformatory and resistance fighter Sean's girlfriend, gives the story some shape, but the action is largely episodic. Their job involves helping transport fugitives to safe houses, but anonymity becomes complicated for Ember when her name, somewhat inexplicably, appears on a list of suspects in a series of shootings.
The lengthy sequel to dystopian romance Article 5 (2012) sees fugitives Ember Miller and Chase Jennings deepening their involvement with a resistance operation.Įmber and Chase are stationed at the Wayland Inn, a resistance headquarters at the edge of Knoxville.
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