Haing Ngor might be best known for winning an Oscar for his performance in the movie, The Killing Fields, about the genocide of the Cambodian people by the Khmer Rouge regime. But in a way, Haing Ngor’s life has always been on behalf of helping his people, and this movie was just a different platform for the work that he did.
Did you know that Haing Ngor was an immigration counselor who helped Southeast Asian immigrants resettle? I didn’t include this in my book, but I heavily researched his murder at age 55. Some people, including close friends and family, believe that he was murdered by his work bringing war criminals in Cambodia to justice. All this and more in Asian Pacific American Heroes. It’s available on the Scholastic Website and through Scholastic Bookclubs flyers.
p.s. All my Asian American Book Lists for Kids are here with some specific ethnicities broken out.
40+ Asian American Book Lists for Kids
- Asian American
- Korean American
- Japanese American
- Chinese American
- South Asian American
p.p.s. Related posts:
Modern Immigration & The Refugee Experience Books for Kids
10 True Kidlit Immigration Stories by Sandra Neil Wallace
FREE Classroom Empathy Kit: Immigration & Refugees
New MCBD Classroom Kit: Activists & Activism!
10 Middle Grade Books about Immigrant Families
Chapter Books to Support 4th Grade or 5th Grade Immigration Unit
Undocumented Immigrants in Children’s Literature
Immigrant Story: In The Year of the Boar
Follow PragmaticMom’s board Multicultural Books for Kids on Pinterest.
Follow PragmaticMom’s board Children’s Book Activities on Pinterest.
My books:
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
- Starred review from School Library Journal
- Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
- Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids
Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me
