Kadohata, Cynthia. (2004). Kira-Kira. New York, New York: Aladdin Paperbacks.
Brief Annotation: Katie Takeshima and her beloved older sister, Lynn, enjoy their life in a small Iowa town in the 1950s. They love their small house, their parents, and each other, and they find everything around them "kira-kira," or "glittering." When Katie and Lynn's parents lose their small Oriental foods grocery store and start dipping into the money they have been saving to buy a house, they decide to move to Georgia to work at a poultry-processing plant with their uncle. Both of Katie's parents must work long hours to afford their small apartment in Georgia, leaving the girls, and their brother who is born in Georgia, to entertain each other and to deal with the racism they experience as some of few Japanese people in their rural Georgia town. Lynn guides and protects Katie until Lynn becomes severely ill, and then Katie must find a way to both comfort Lynn and help her young brother find what is kira-kira in their difficult lives.
Genre: Historical fiction
Grade Level: 3-6
Readers who will like this: Readers who like historical fiction, readers who like stories about families, readers interested in people from different ethnic backgrounds.
Response/Rating (1-4): 3. This book is interesting to read, and the contrast between the way that Japanese people were perceived in Iowa and Georgia in the 1950s can provide a different context for discussing civil rights and racism. I personally didn't like the feeling of dread that I had from early in the book, when Katie was praising Lynn and saying how she didn't know what she would do without her, because I knew that the author was planning on killing Lynn off, and I was just waiting to see how. I suppose that could be a good context for discussing foreshadowing in literature, or to discuss character development, and why the author built up the character of Lynn so much at the beginning of the novel.
One question you would ask before a read aloud: Do you know anyone who helps you see the world in a more positive, happy way?
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