Title: First They Killed My Father
Author: Loung Ung
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Genre: Non-Fiction
Number of Pages: 238 pages
Discovery of Book: Library Catalog
Reading Level: Lexile Level-920
Awards: None
Summary: First They Killed My Father is a gripping memoir about a young girl, Ung, and her family's struggle to survive during Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge reign in Cambodia from 1975-1979. Ung lived in Phnom Pehn until her family was forced to flee. Ung's father was a government agent, which posed an eimminent threat to the family. Her father taught the family to act like illiterate peasants to help them survive this trying time. The family moved from town to town and eventually from work camp to work camp. Eventually Ung's father, mother, and two siblings are killed by the Khmer Rouge army. Ung describes her struggle as she escapes to Thailand and eventually to the United States, which ultimately allows us to hear this powerful story.
Personal Connection: Reading this memoir was heart wrenching. Each turn of the page warrants putting the book down because of the horror that is occurring, yet something tells you to keep reading. Seeing how terrible Pol Pot's army treated the Cambodians leaves a retching pit in your stomach. Ung describes how the family had to steal food to survive, yet when her brother is caught one day, he is brutally beaten, almost to death. As her family slowly falls apart, she finds herself and some of her siblings living under a tree, with nothing to eat, carrying but a few measly personal items. I wanted nothing more than to jump inside this story to help this physically and mentally beaten family, along with the thousand other Cambodians, escape to a new life.
Evaluation/Analysis: First They Killed My Father would be a powerful read for a Middle School student. Many of the events are difficult to swallow in terms of their brutality. This would be an excellent class read-aloud, allowing the teacher to do the reading and the students to do the listening. As the students listen, they should write down specific examples of brutality that might help peg the Pol Pot regime as a holocaust. The teacher could elicit discussion about the real-life pictures that are located in the center of the book, asking students how the incorporation of these photos may help them decide if the 1970's in Cambodia was truly a time worthy of being deemed a holocaust.
Author: Loung Ung
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Genre: Non-Fiction
Number of Pages: 238 pages
Discovery of Book: Library Catalog
Reading Level: Lexile Level-920
Awards: None
Summary: First They Killed My Father is a gripping memoir about a young girl, Ung, and her family's struggle to survive during Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge reign in Cambodia from 1975-1979. Ung lived in Phnom Pehn until her family was forced to flee. Ung's father was a government agent, which posed an eimminent threat to the family. Her father taught the family to act like illiterate peasants to help them survive this trying time. The family moved from town to town and eventually from work camp to work camp. Eventually Ung's father, mother, and two siblings are killed by the Khmer Rouge army. Ung describes her struggle as she escapes to Thailand and eventually to the United States, which ultimately allows us to hear this powerful story.
Personal Connection: Reading this memoir was heart wrenching. Each turn of the page warrants putting the book down because of the horror that is occurring, yet something tells you to keep reading. Seeing how terrible Pol Pot's army treated the Cambodians leaves a retching pit in your stomach. Ung describes how the family had to steal food to survive, yet when her brother is caught one day, he is brutally beaten, almost to death. As her family slowly falls apart, she finds herself and some of her siblings living under a tree, with nothing to eat, carrying but a few measly personal items. I wanted nothing more than to jump inside this story to help this physically and mentally beaten family, along with the thousand other Cambodians, escape to a new life.
Evaluation/Analysis: First They Killed My Father would be a powerful read for a Middle School student. Many of the events are difficult to swallow in terms of their brutality. This would be an excellent class read-aloud, allowing the teacher to do the reading and the students to do the listening. As the students listen, they should write down specific examples of brutality that might help peg the Pol Pot regime as a holocaust. The teacher could elicit discussion about the real-life pictures that are located in the center of the book, asking students how the incorporation of these photos may help them decide if the 1970's in Cambodia was truly a time worthy of being deemed a holocaust.
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