Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
Winner, 2005 Newbery Award
Quick Summary
Two Japanese-American sisters adapt to small town Georgia life in the late 1950s.
Favorite Quote
I might have wished for sixteen crayons instead of eight, but even when I was little, I never wished for a thousand different crayons, because I knew a thousand different crayons did not exist.
About the Author
Cynthia Kadohata is an author living in the Los Angeles area. She's written several books for children, including The Thing About Luck, which won the National Book Award in 2013. On her website, she admits that one part of Kira-Kira that is directly from her childhood was her ability to eat five tacos at one sitting!
My Project
For my project, I wanted to create something kira-kira which is defined as glittering or shining. The older sister mentions the ocean and sky as two examples. She never gets to see the ocean in California, but it's one of her dreams. I decided to create a very soft watercolor image of the ocean and the sky. I added a sparkly wash to the ocean so that it would look like sun hitting the water. I tore the edges of the paper to represent some of the roughness and difficulty of the lives of the characters. I added a single star in the sky as another kira-kira representative. It also speaks to some of the isolation that the girls feel at school and in public places.
Final Thoughts
This was not a story I felt I'd heard before; it had new voices and experiences that created a fuller picture of a time of American history that is often viewed as idyllic. The book contained quite a bit about long, dirty, grueling work at the chicken processing plant where the parents work, the dad sexing chickens and the mom cutting up chicken parts. It also doesn't skirt the racism experienced by the family in a small town of 4,000 with about 30 Japanese residents. The illness of the older daughter felt like a striking depiction of what it was like to be poor with a serious illness during that time. Overall, this story felt starkly real. It's the kind of book that I can see well-intentioned, comfortable parents shielding their sheltered kids from, when really this is exactly the kind of thing that they should be reading to see other views of the world and understand how lucky they are.
Your Turn
Readers: If you read this book, I'd love to hear what you think in the comments.
Back to the Newbery Book-Inspired Art Schedule