Book Review

          Imagine a Japenese-American family back in the 1920's where segregation has not happened yet, blacks and whites are separate and the only job for a family like yours is a hatchery only making half a penny for every chicken. That's what it was like for Katie's family in Cynthia Kadhota's Kira-Kira mezmorizing tale of unexpecting turn of events that will leave you flipping page to page.

          One of the characters, Lynn, made an impact on the way I saw her because she is just like me in some ways. She was the older sister by a few years just like I am. The way she looked at the world was different. The phrase Kira-Kira actually means glittering or shining in Japenense. I loved the way she looked at the world, she could "take something as simple as a blade of grass and make something wonderful out of it," as Katie, her little sister would say. Her love for the ocean is another reason why I connected with Lynn so well. She wanted to go to Califonia and see the ocean in real life; however, in a change of events she develops anemia and is hospitalized. In a few short months her disease acts up or it stays constant. Sadly though she does not recover and dies before she has a chance to visit her one true place, the ocean in California.

This book takes place in different locations, first we are taken to a small town in Iowa then to an even smaller town in Georgia where Katie and Lynn's family have to live in a town where whites overwhelm the Japenese. Lynn's family have to work two jobs each to pay for there little apartment and they basically live at the factory where they work. They rarely ever come home anymore and that is forcing Katie to grow up faster than a little kid should. I think the move caused Lynn to become sick because she is not happy and doctors do say that the more upset you are the more likely you are to become sick and develop a cold.

I connected to this book when I read it in 7th grade. I picked the book up as just something to grab in my English class and I never realized how much I would love this book and even go as far as buying it for my own personal reads. I loved connecting with this book because the characters and the way the author wrote this book made me feel like I was there in the 20's and I was the one suffering. The suffering of these characters made me feel a lot actually. In one part of the book when Lynn's death was portrated I cried when she passed and the author described the death. How no one was with her when she died and she died in her sleep as the author put it. I cried because that is one sorrow I have. I am afraid to die alone and I would love to die in my sleep if I had to choose which way I wanted to die. So that is why I connected with Lynn that much more when she passed even though she was scarcely mentioned the rest of the book.

Kira-Kira was an inspiring book that made me actually feel something. I enjoyed reading this book because I have never cried or felt anything when reading any other book. So I would love to read this book over and over again, and everytime I do I will tear up just because I loved the way Lynn's death was portrayed.