Ho, Minfong. The stone goddess.

HO, Minfong. The stone goddess. (First Person Fiction.) Scholastic. 201 p. c2003.0-439-38198-3. $6.99. JS

To quote the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, January 2003: First Person Fiction is a series about immigrant experiences, and Minfong Ho tells of a Cambodian family surviving under the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s and journeying to the refugee camps on the Thai border to come eventually to America. Minfong Ho is of Chinese heritage, and she and her husband worked in the camps in Thailand, where she met many refugees like Nakri, the narrator of this novel. Nakri and her older sister are studying classical Cambodian dance, with their mother as their teacher, when the country falls to the revolutionary Khmer Rouge. Such a family from the educated middle class is unacceptable to the new regime and they are forced to leave their home in the capital city and travel to the village of their grandparents. Even there, they aren't safe: the father is taken prisoner and never heard from again, and the teenagers are sent to work camps far from their families. Starvation and brutal oppression are prevalent. When the Vietnamese army invades Cambodia and restores some order, it is too late to save Nakri's sister, who has died in the camps. Leaving their country seems the only viable option. Nakri's story of dealing with American culture, adjusting to schools, food, and the cold weather, is told in 50 pages at the end of the novel. Nakri and her family are determined to preserve the classical dance of their people and bring that richness to America. Claire Rosser, KLIATT

J--Recommended for junior high school students. The contents are of particular interest to young adolescents and their teachers.

S--Recommended for senior high school students.