February 15, 2022
Grades 6-8 Sang Ly lives on the edge of the biggest garbage dump in Cambodia. To earn a living, she and her husband pick through the garbage to find items that can be sold for recycling. In the grand scheme of her daily woes, the filth and stench are secondary to her baby's failing health, the sharp-tongued rent collector's regular visits, and dangerous gangs roaming the area. Into this horrific reality comes an unsuspected source of relief: literature. Sang Ly's relationship with the rent collector, Sopeap, takes a turn for the better when she finds a book and Sopeap teaches her to read it. This book is an adaptation for children and, though fictional, is based on the lives of real people. Readers will cheer for Sang Ly and her hopes for a better life for her baby. Moments of tenderness between Sang Ly and her husband, glimpses of an incipient friendship with Sopeap, and some very improbable twists and turns keep the narrative compelling as it rumbles towards a hopeful conclusion.
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March 1, 2022
Inspired by a true story, this young readers' edition of a 2012 title for adults focuses on a family living in a large garbage dump on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Sang Ly, the woman at the heart of the story, says, "The clock is broken, so its time never changes." This is a metaphor for her life in Stung Meanchey, where she sorts through the trash for recyclables and endures daily struggles. Sang Ly's life turns a corner when she offers Sopeap Sin, "a bitter, angry woman" who collects rent from the dump's residents for local landlords, a discarded children's book in lieu of payment. This marks the beginning of a genuine relationship between the two, a journey through language and literature. As Sang Ly haltingly learns to read from Sopeap, she becomes determined to give her ailing son an education and starts to interpret the world through the written word. In this way, she begins to take control; for his part, her husband, Ki Lim, carries a knife to defend their family from gangs. Most powerful here is the matryoshka-doll-like format of stories within stories that highlight the power of literacy. Unfortunately, in explaining the book's context, the author's note prefacing the story asks readers, "What if you lived in a garbage dump?" and "Worse, what if you couldn't read?" which has the effect of othering the protagonists. A story of survival that is most effective when it comes to showing the power of reading. (Fiction. 9-14)
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