Description
Book SynopsisEleven-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.
Trade ReviewAs 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 *
