The Cambodian Dancer: Sophany's Gift of Hope

**Winner of the Moonbeam Children's Book Award Silver Medal for Non-Fiction —Picture Book**

This beautifully illustrated children's book tells the story of a little Cambodian girl forced to leave her old world behind and find a new home in America.

In clear but simple language and vivid illustrations, this Cambodian children's story communicates a sense of the joy, sadness, injustice and triumph that lives on in young Cambodian Americans. It shows that it is possible to overcome great hardship, and that a single decision can do much to heal one's self and others.

The Cambodian Dancer is the true story of a Cambodian refugee—a dancer and teacher—who built a life in the US after fleeing the Khmer Rouge. She became a counselor to other Cambodian refugees and created a school of dance for children. Her gift of hope was to teach children in the Cambodian community the traditional dances of Cambodia so that young people growing up far away from the land of their ancestors would know about their culture.