Icy Smith, illustrated by Sopaul Nhem,
Half Spoon of Rice: A Survival Story of the Cambodian Genocide
East West Discovery Press, 2010.

Ages 7-12

Award-winning author Icy Smith (co-founder of East West Discovery Press) does not shy away from challenging subjects. She’s treated Chinese-American history in Los Angeles and Japanese-Americans in internment camps in previous children’s books. Half Spoon of Rice, set in 1970s’ Cambodia during Pol Pot’s regime and based on first-person accounts, skillfully accomplishes the sensitive task of introducing children to that devastating time without overwhelming them.

Smith’s narrator is Nat, a 9-year-old celebrating the New Year in Phnom Penh when soldiers force the citizens to leave, ostensibly because Americans are about to bomb the city. Nat and his parents can only grab a little food and a few belongings. They befriend Malis, a girl separated from her parents as the march began. For three days they march at gunpoint, not allowed to stop or eat; Nat’s father correctly surmises that everyone is being ordered to the countryside to grow rice. Finally they reach a place where Nat can soak his aching feet in the cool mud. Along the way they have seen the bodies of those too weak to march, and more horrors await them.

Images by gifted illustrator Sopaul Nhem, inspired by his father, who survived the Khmer Rouge regime, help children absorb the meaning of the events Nat recounts. Eventually children are separated from parents, boys from girls. In Nat’s clear, simple language, readers learn what he undergoes— cruel forced labor, the disappearance of other children for even minor infractions, near starvation:

 “Our food ration is now only about half a spoon of rice a day. I sneak out into the forest behind our tent to try to catch something to eat. I know I’m taking a chance and might get caught, but I’m so hungry. I find a frog and pull its legs off and eat them. It tastes horrible, but it satisfies my stomach.”

Nat and Malis eventually find each other. When soldiers abandon their posts after four long years, the children go to a camp in Thailand. Nat’s parents survive, too. They adopt Malis, and the family emigrates to San Francisco.

Not every child will be ready for this book at age 7, but with parental guidance, Half Spoon of Rice will enrich the imaginations of young readers; Smith’s truth-telling can touch children’s hearts, lead to greater compassion and deeper awareness of our human existence, and inspire courage and justice over cruelty.

Charlotte Richardson
December 2009