Common Sense Note
This is a topic-driven book -- racism, death of a loved one, cancer, and poverty are all main themes.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Matt Berman
Each year the American Library Association gives the Newbery Medal "to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children." That's a fine phrase that is (presumably) purposefully vague, but one thing you can be sure of -- few kids are interested in "distinguished." The closest the criteria get to considering actual children in their selections is "children are a potential audience," and "quality presentation for children." Too often award-winners like this one are the result -- books that will be loved by many of the adults who make the purchasing decisions, especially teachers and librarians, who will cram them down the throats of kids and then bemoan a generation of children who hate to read. The Newbery is simply too powerful a force in the children's literature market to be chosen this way.
Even by the questionable criteria of the Newbery this is an odd choice. It's a perfectly decent book with some lyrical writing, a bit of charm, a bit of humor, and an interesting setting, but nothing special. It's slow, the characters are not especially compelling, and, given its sad theme of the death of a child, emotionally uninvolving. There's nothing particularly wrong with it, but "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children" it is not.
From the Book:
My uncle was exactly one inch taller than my father. But his stomach was soft. We knew this because we hit him in it once the year before, and he yelped in pain and threatened to spank us. We got sent to bed without supper because my parents said hitting someone was the worst thing you could do. Stealing was second, and lying was third.
Before I was twelve, I would have committed all three of those crimes.
Plot Summary:
Katie, her sister Lynn, and their parents move from their Japanese-American community in Iowa to rural Georgia after their grocery store fails. Their parents take on grueling jobs in chicken processing plants. Though they are subjected to prejudice and poverty, Katie, with her older sister's loving care, is happy enough, until Lynn starts to get sick more and more often.
Eventually Lynn is diagnosed with Lymphoma. Katie does her best to take care of her while their parents are working, but it is at times too much for her to bear. As Lynn's health fades the family seems to crumble, but after her death they look for ways to come together again, and Katie continue to try to see the world the way Lynn had taught her from the moment she began to speak -- as kira-kira (glittering).
Related Books:
Another Japanese-American Faces Prejudice
Bat 6 by Virginia Euwer Wolff
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Sexual ContentReferences to French kissing, Katie hears her parents grunting in the next room while trying to make a baby. |
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ViolenceA rabbit hunt is described. |
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LanguageSome mild swearing. |
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Social BehaviorMain characters lie, skip school, and shoplift. Racism against Japanese-Americans. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoAdults smoke, drink, and get drunk. |
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