Kira-Kira

Locations
Call Number: J Fiction / Kadohata, Cynthia, R Newbery Medal 2005
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown Kids Books 4-week checkout	J Fiction / Kadohata, Cynthia	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown Kids Books 4-week checkout	J Fiction / Kadohata, Cynthia	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown Kids Books 4-week checkout	J Fiction / Kadohata, Cynthia	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown Kids Reference 0-week checkout	R Newbery Medal 2005	0-week checkout	Library Use Only

Chronicles the close friendship between two Japanese-American sisters growing up in rural Georgia during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the despair when one sister becomes terminally ill.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

School Library Journal Review
Booklist Review
Publishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Fiction Profile
Excerpt
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

very well written submitted by Sylwia on July 17, 2013, 8:51pm this story is written through a young girl's eyes, her relationship with her sister, parents, society. It addresses loss in a very touching way and how a young child copes with it. I cried and loved this book every minute.

Funny and Sad submitted by sdunav on August 23, 2015, 7:54pm I didn't think I was going to like Kira-Kira, the 2005 Newbery winner. Part of it was the cover - lots of people seem to love it, but it seemed a little stark to me, and on top of this, I knew that a main character dies in the story. I just didn't feel like reading one of those Reader's Digest type child death tearjerkers.

The writing on the very first page changed my reluctance to read it, though I still had some reservations about the death later in the story. The cover, I actually like now (after reading the book) - go figure. Though I still think it could use a little more color.

"My sister, Lynn, taught me my first word: kira-kira....Kira-kira means "glittering" in Japanese. Lynn told me that when I was a baby, she used to take me onto our empty road at night, where we would lie on our backs and look at the stars while she said over and over, "Katie say 'kira-kira, kira-kira.' " I loved that word! When I grew older, I used kira-kira to describe everything I liked: the beautiful blue sky, puppies, kittens, butterflies, colored Kleenex (pg. 1). "

Kira-Kira is the story of a Japanese-American family in the U.S. heartland in the 50's and 60's. The Takeshima family lives in rural Iowa, but moves to small town Georgia, where Katie and Lynn's father gets a job as a chicken-sexer (identifying the sex of newly hatched chicks), and her mother works in a chicken-processing plant. As you might expect, racism, the experience of second generation immigrant kids, and brutally hard work play important roles in the story. All of this really takes second stage to the characters and Kadohata's writing, though. Her descriptions never failed to surprise me. Take this description of the girls' strange Uncle Katsuhisa, who attempts to distract his nieces from crying about moving to Georgia (and not being able to find their favorite things in storage during the ride), by teaching them to spit like he does:

"Lynn and I tried to rumble our throats like him.

"Hocka-hocka-hocka!" he said.

Lynn and I copied him: "Hocka-hocka-hocka!"

"Geh-geh-geh!"

"Geh-geh-geh!"

He turned to his open window, and an amazing wad of brown juice flew from his mouth. The brown juice was like a bat bursting out of a cave. We turned around to watch it speed away. A part of me hoped it would hit the car behind us, but it didn't. I leaned over Lynn and out the passenger window. "Hyaaahhhh!" I said, and a little trickle of saliva fell down my chin (p. 22)."

The intimate, often funny portrayals of the Takeshima family reminded me (very favorably!) of "The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963", by Christopher Paul Curtis (the 1996 Newbery Honors book), which also deals with the banality and ubiquity of racism in a totally matter-of-fact manner.

And it turns out that Kadohata's account of Lynn's death was sad, but it was not trite or Reader's Digest-like at all. The ending was beautiful, in fact, and very satisfying:

"Now and then I thought I heard Lynn's lively voice. The cricket sang "Chirp! Chirp!" but I heard "Kira-kira!" ....My sister had taught me to look at the world that way, as a place that glitters, as a place where the calls of the crickets and the crows and the wind are everyday occurrences that also happen to be magic (p. 243-4).?

There are a lot of rather adult references in Kira-Kira, and the lack of action and a meandering storyline in much of the book will not endear it to younger readers, either. But I think it's a wonderful choice for teens, especially girls. Adult readers who like this may also want to check out "Bento Box in the Heartland", by Linda Furiya - a memoir (with recipes!) set a few years later than Kira-Kira, by the daughter of another chicken-sexer.

A Sad, But Good Read! submitted by bookworms on June 23, 2018, 7:03pm This book is incredibly sad, but it touches you somehow. I have read it many times! It shares the story of Katie and her Japanese family, focusing on her relationship with her sister, Lynn.

It starts off with the family living in Iowa, however, they have to move to Georgia to get better jobs. As the story continues, Katie struggles to see why she and her family are treated unfairly. Her parents work many jobs to provide for the family, but still have trouble paying the bills. Things get even harder when Katie's hero, Lynn, becomes ill. Katie faces many challenges, but she meets a new friend and learns that, like her sister always said, their is always something "Kira Kira". ( "Kira Kira" is Japanese for glittering and Shinning!)

Kira Kira submitted by Varshini on July 23, 2019, 12:01am This book is a bit sad, but it’s a beautiful historical fiction story from WWII. Used to be my fav book. Definitely recommend! 5/5

Would ring true for kids submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on June 12, 2021, 9:24pm The early parts of this book grew slowly, building a scene but without much happening that the main character has control over. That’s never my favorite kind of story… I prefer a story where the main character is making choices and living with them. On the other hand, I think childhood often feels like other people making decisions, so maybe a young person reading this would feel differently, because it would ring true in a different way. Regardless, I enjoyed the characters, as well as the different life perspective that the story brought. It’s not a book either of my two particular children would have picked up on their own (one loved action stories/ SF, the other is devoted to mysteries and Harry Potter), but I can picture young people who would love it, and think it would make a great classroom book for the discussions it would spark.