A review by lighthousebooks
Children of the River by Linda Crew

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓 is YA coming of age fiction set against the historical backdrop of the 1979 Cambodian refugee crisis. The MC Sundara flees Cambodia with her aunt’s family to escape the Khmer Rouge army. She struggles to fit into American culture and honor her Cambodian traditions. 

💭 I thought the author did a great job introducing readers to this time in history and illustrating multicultural challenges. Some may be distracted by the romance, but there is so much more to consider and reflect on. I greatly appreciated the interview with the author at the end of the book which provides some insight into how she came to tell this story.

✝️ Some characters see praying to Buddha, ancestors, or Jesus as the same. Asks why evil exists in the world. Some Cambodian traditions would be seen as superstition in American culture. 

📝 Clean teen romance, forbidden love trope. High school scenes reminded me of 80s teen movies 😅. Challenging family dynamics. Ethnicity/race. Farm/migrant work. Immigration. Cultural differences and misunderstandings. Polygamy. Comfortable life vs. belief in action. Some grim descriptions of death/war: extremely mild compared to First They Killed My Father.