Arn Chorn, a young boy living in Cambodia, was taken by surprise in the sudden uprise of the Khmer Rouge.  This novel is about the traumatic experiences Arn took in as he was put through a harsh living of working all day and receiving basically no food.  Throughout the novel, Arn must fight to survive day to day.  He is forced to work in the fields, along with many other children and few adults.  They mostly separated all of the adults away from the children, and especially broke up the families into different camps.  Arn is always unsure of how or what is family is doing, and he is scared to know if they are still living or not.  Soon Arn becomes like a robot, just doing whatever he has to do, day after day, to survive.  He is emotionless and just going through the motions on a day to day basis.  Arn uses his skill as a musician to help him survive.  They kill off many of the children, but they keep Arn because he is an amazing khim player.  The Khmer Rouge uses the music to drown out the background noise of them shooting and killing many people at a time.  Soon the Vietnamese come to try to end the rule of the Khmer Rouge, and a war results.  Arn and all of the other boys are used in the war to draw out the Vietnamese, like a pawn to be killed. 
Patricia McCormick writes this novel using Arn Chorn’s own words through an interview.  In this very graphic and telling novel, Arn goes through the impossible, and survives it, showing how one should never give up.  It is a truly inspiring story, showing how as long as you keep going strong, good will eventually come in the end.  To Arn, time is nonexistent, he never can keep track of the time, he is too concerned with just surviving. Towards the end, Arn finally escapes the mayhem and torture of the Khmer Rouge control.  He is able to get treatment and medical help to deal with all of the physical and mental injuries he has endured.  He meets an American man, Mr. Pond, at a hospital and this is where his life turns around.  Arn’s life story is so intriguing and as one gets into the novel, they understand how difficult it must have been for a boy his age.