Awards

• Commended for Parents Choice Awards (Spring) (2008-Up) (Fiction) 2012
• Short-listed for Isinglass Teen Read Award 2012

Overview

"Winner of the APALA Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature An ALA-YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Book After a classmate commits suicide, Kana Goldberg--a half-Japanese, half-Jewish American--wonders who is responsible. She and her cliquey friends said some thoughtless things to the girl. Hoping that Kana will reflect on her behavior, her parents pack her off to her mother's ancestral home in Japan for the summer. There Kana spends hours under the hot sun tending to her family's ""mikan"" orange groves. Kana's mixed heritage makes it hard to fit in at first, especially under the critical eye of her traditional grandmother, who has never accepted Kana's father. But as the summer unfolds, Kana gets to know her relatives, Japan, and village culture, and she begins to process the pain and guilt she feels about the tragedy back home. Then news about a friend sends her world spinning out of orbit all over again."

Full Product Details

9780385739771

Table of Contents

Reviews

Starred Review, School Library Journal, March 2011: <br> The narrative is rich in authentic cultural detail and is complemented by attractive woodcut illustrations of Japanese imagery to evoke the story's setting. Thompson has crafted an exquisite, thought-provoking story of grief and healing that will resonate with teen readers and give them much to discuss.

Author Information

HOLLY THOMPSON was raised in New England, earned her B.A. in biology from Mount Holyoke College and her M.A. in English from New York University. A long-time resident of Japan, she teaches creative writing at Yokohama City University.

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