| "KIRA-KIRA"
Author: Cynthia Kadohata
Interest Level: Middle Grades (4-8)
ATOS Reading Level: 4.7
AR Points: 7.0
Publisher Recommended Age: 10-14
Publishers: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Book Type: Trade Paperback
Pages: 266
Notes: Mature content
Book Description:
kira-kira (kee' ra kee' ra): glittering; shining Glittering.
That's how Katie Takeshima's sister, Lynn, makes everything seem. The sky is kira-kira because its color is deep but see-through at the same time. The sea is kira-kira for the same reason. And so are people's eyes.
When Katie and her family move from a Japanese community in Iowa to the Deep South of Georgia, it's Lynn who explains to her why people stop them on the street to stare. And it's Lynn who, with her special way of viewing the world, teaches Katie to look beyond tomorrow.
But when Lynn becomes desperately ill, and the whole family begins to fall apart, it is up to Katie to find a way to remind them all that there is always something glittering -- kira-kira -- in the future.
Luminous in its persistence of love and hope, Kira-Kira is Cynthia Kadohata's stunning debut in middle-grade fiction.
Book Group Guide:
Book Reviews:
School Library Journal: "Girls will relate to and empathize with the appealing protagonist." Grades 6-8.
Book Awards:
- USA: Newbery 2005
- USA: ALA Notable Children's Books
- USA: Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Award Winner
- USA: Blue Spruce YA Book Award Nominee (CO)
- USA: Booklinks Lasting Connections
- USA: Booklist Editors' Choice
- USA: California Collections
- USA: Capitol Choices List (DC)
- USA: CCBC Choices (Cooperative Children's Book Council)
- USA: Charlotte Award Suggested Reading List (NY)
- USA: Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award Master List (VT)
- USA: Garden State Teen Book Award Nominee (NJ)
- International: Kiriyama Prize Notable Book
- USA: KSRC Middle School Titles - Top Pick
- USA: Nene Award Master List (HI)
- USA: NYPL "Books for the Teen Age"
- USA: Pacific Northwest Young Reader's Choice Award Master List
- USA: Thumbs Up! Award Master List (MI)
About the Author:
Cynthia Kadohata is a novelist who has also had stories published in The New Yorker, Grand Street Magazine, and Ploughshares. The New York Times called her "a luminous new voice in fiction" with the publication of her first novel, The Floating World. A Whiting Award fellow, she lives in Los Angeles, California. |
