Sundara fled Cambodia with her aunt's family to escape the Khmer Rouge army when she was thirteen, leaving behind her parents, her brother and sister, and the boy she had loved since she was a child. Now, four years later, she struggles to fit in at her Oregon high school and to be "a good Cambodian girl" at home. A good Cambodian girl never dates; she waits for her family to arrange her marriage to a Cambodian boy. Yet Sundara and Jonathan, an extraordinary American boy, are powerfully drawn to each other. Haunted by grief for her lost family and for the life left behind, Sundara longs to be with him. At the same time she wonders, Are her hopes for happiness and new life in America disloyal to her past and her people? * "A powerful first novel....A book to change readers' eyes and hearts."-- Pointer, Kirkus Reviews * "Crew salutes the basic goodness of humankind which triumphs in some way even under the most inhumane circumstances."-- Starred, School Library Journal "A moving look at the way in which a survivor of a great tragedy, having confronted overwhelming changes in her life, faces young adulthood." -- Publishers Weekly "Crew salutes the basic goodness of humankind which triumphs in some way even under the most inhumane circumstances."-- Starred, School Library Journal "A moving look at the way in which a survivor of a great tragedy, having confronted overwhelming changes in her life, faces young adulthood." -- Publishers Weekly Grades 7 and up Sundara fled Cambodia with her aunt's family to escape the Khmer Rouge army when she was thirteen, leaving behind her parents, her brother and sister, and the boy she had loved since she was a child. Now, four years later, she struggles to fit in at her Oregon high school and to be "a good Cambodian girl" at home. A good Cambodian girl never dates; she waits for her family to arrange her marriage to a Cambodian boy. Yet Sundara and Jonathan, an extraordinary American boy, are powerfully drawn to each other. Haunted by grief for her lost family and for the life left behind, Sundara longs to be with him. At the same time she wonders, Are her hopes for happiness and new life in America disloyal to her past and her people? Grades 7 and up Sundara fled Cambodia with her aunt's family to escape the Khmer Rouge army when she was thirteen, leaving behind her parents, her brother and sister, and the boy she had loved since she was a child. Now, four years later, she struggles to fit in at her Oregon high school and to be "a good Cambodian girl" at home. A good Cambodian girl never dates; she waits for her family to arrange her marriage to a Cambodian boy. Yet Sundara and Jonathan, an extraordinary American boy, are powerfully drawn to each other. Haunted by grief for her lost family and for the life left behind, Sundara longs to be with him. At the same time she wonders, Are her hopes for happiness and new life in America disloyal to her past and her people? Linda Crew is a recipient of the IRA Children's Book Award, the Golden Kite Award, the Oregon Book Award and the Willa Literary Award. Her books have been named ALA Notables as well as ALA Best Books. Crew graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Oregon, with a major in Journalism. She avoided the English Department's Creative Writing classes and instead concentrated on learning to research and interview.  J-school students were encouraged to present the facts accurately and without fuss. But perhaps because of her earlier background in theater, she found her assignments tending to include a lot of dialogue, and she always had an urge to make the story just a little better than the way it happened, feeling that, in the end, a well-researched piece of  fiction can sometimes  best convey a powerful truth.  After college, Linda Crew married her husband Herb and settled on a farm in her hometown of Corvallis, Oregon, where the couple still resides today. She is happiest when out working in the forest on their tree farm properties.  Book List Children of the River An ALA Best Book for Young Adults An IRA Children's Book Award A Golden Kite Award New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age Someday I'll Laugh About This Fire on the Wind Maine Student Book Award Master List 1996-1997 Vermont Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award Master List 1996-1997 Nekomah Creek An ALA Notable Children's Book Nekomah Creek Christmas Long Time Passing Ordinary Miracles A Heart for Any Fate: Westward to Oregon, 1845 Oregon Book Award, Willa Literary Award Accidental Addict Wedding in Yangshuo Family Trees: a Novel of the Northwest