Never Fall Down - Couverture souple

McCormick, Patricia

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0552567353 ISBN 13 : 9780552567350

Editeur : Corgi Childrens, 2013

Synopsis

Eleven-year-old Arn is walking through the countryside in Cambodia. His whole town is walking with him. They're walking into one of the most tragic moments of history: "The Killing Fields". Music will save him. Hope, luck and kindness will save him. This is his story. Based on the true story of Arn Chorn-Pond, this is an achingly raw and powerful novel about a child of war who becomes a man of peace.

A propos du livre

Quatrième de couverture

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.

One day, the soldiers ask if any of the kids can play an instrument. Arn's never played a note in his life, but he volunteers. In order to survive, he must quickly master the strange revolutionary songs the soldiers demand—and steal food to keep the other kids alive. This decision will save his life, but it will pull him into the very center of what we know today as the Killing Fields. And just as the country is about to be liberated from the Khmer Rouge, Arn is handed a gun and forced to become a soldier. He lives by the simple credo: Over and over I tell myself one thing: never fall down.

Based on the true story of Arn Chorn-Pond, this is an achingly raw and powerful novel about a child of war who becomes a man of peace, from National Book Award finalist Patricia McCormick.

Revue de presse

"As the story unfolds from atrocity to anguish it gains momentum until, in its final chapters, it becomes a gripping account of the inner turmoil of a child soldier." (New York Times)

"One of the most inspiring and powerful books I've ever read. NEVER FALL DOWN can teach us all about finding the courage to speak our truth and change the world." (Archbishop Desmond Tutu)

"Once again, McCormick has delivered a heartrending exposé of human tragedy. The natural syntax and grammar of Arn’s narration imbues his story with a stunning simplicity and clarity against a backdrop of political chaos, terror, and death. This compelling story will awaken compassion and activism in secondary readers." (School Library Journal)

"Throughout his ordeal, as Arn turns from captive to child soldier to refugee, he speaks in the imperfect cadences of the English he only learned years later. It's a wise narrative choice: Telling Arn's story this way creates a sense of foreignness that feels right, and gives rise to the accidental poetry of faulty translation." (The Wall Street Journal)

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Corgi Childrens
• Date d'édition: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0552567353
• ISBN 13: 9780552567350
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 224