"Bones That Float: A Story of Adopting Cambodia" is more than a book; it's a movement!" says Kari Grady Grossman, the book's author.

Determined to make a difference for the positive, Kari turned down a publishing deal with Beacon Press and opened her own company ... fixing the date of publication to coincide with the anniversary of the day the Khmer Rouge began the forced evacuation of Phnom Penh ... to assure that every penny possible made from the sales of "Bones that Float" would go directly back into the country that inspired it. A full 25% of revenue from book sales funds a school in the Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia and works to preserve the forest in the area.

The Grady Grossman School in Chrauk Teak, Kampong Speu province is not only teaching students the three Rs, but also how to protect their rainforest and the nearby Oral Wildlife Sanctuary. Kari is back and forth like a mommie yo-yo, attending to the needs of her family while she continues her efforts to make a difference for the positive for the people of her child's birth country and the children who will never leave.

Money from the sale of Kari's book provides teachers with food and housing, teaches about sustainable cooking fuels and forest agriculture, uses music and arts to communicate vital lessons to illiterate residents and is installing communication technology to connect Chrauk Teak to the world.

The Friends of Grady Grossman recently purchased land behind the school that will be the Abundant Forest Training Center designed to teach entrepreneurial skills to fund teachers, change the culture of corruption, and make the forest more valuable alive than dead.

A couple of months ago, students compiled drawings and writings addressing their concerns about the area around their home and sent them to journalists, government officials and NGOs in hopes of grabbing some attention to illegal deforestation that is eating trees like like a sports fan munches beer nuts.

The VOA covered the story back in February, calling the students' actions, "A surprising intervention tactic in Cambodia's ongoing battle against poachers and loggers ...".

'We have peace,' say the birds. 'We will be married,' say the snakes. 'I'm so happy that people stopped cutting the trees,' says the elephant ... in this drawing sent out by children of the Grady Grossman School, also known as the Chrork Teak Primary School, in their letter writing campaign.

Such positive attention from the media ... both the VOA and the Cambodian Daily have covered the students' actions in depth ... has encouraged the parents of hundreds of children to allow them to return to school, giving hope that the next generation will be better prepared to make changes for the better in their country.

The book is great and the cause it supports is more than worthy. You can't go wrong here. If you have international adoption in your life, you should have this book in your library, and it doesn't matter if your kids are from Cambodia or Guatemala or Ethiopia, it's the heart of the matter that counts, and "Bones that Float: A Story of Adopting Cambodia" has heart.

Kari is going to be doing a blog book tour soon, so I you have questions or comments you'd like me to put to her, please send them along.

And if you're looking for this week's Cambodian news update, click here.