Summary
Kira-kira follows a period in the lives of a Japanese-American family, as told by the middle daughter. The story follows the family from their lives in rural Iowa to rural Georgia, where both parents work long hours and are frequently absent. The narrator gives her impressions of the world around her as a new baby is born, as both parents work increasingly more, and as her oldest sister starts to grow ill. The sister grows sicker and sicker, and finally the narrator is told that the sister has lymphoma. The story chronicles the family's life as the sister battles terminal illness and dies. Then, the narrator shows how the family works to recover from grief.
My Impressions
This is not a bad book or a bad story, but I didn't really enjoy reading it. One of the points that has been made in class discussions, both this class and my storytelling class, is that the character of a book or story is the most important part of a story because the characters drive the action. The problem with this book is it feels like it doesn't drive anywhere. There aren't that many big actions. The narrator talks about some of the very grown-up things she sees in her life (illness and death, union organization, poor working conditions, shame, honesty, and racism just to name a few) but because she speaks in a child's voice, these very serious things are touched on only lightly and with little analysis or exploration. The action is a little slow, so the book feels like it is about twice as long as it needs to be. Some books with heavy character development or delicate treatment of serious subjects at least feel like a learning experience where the main character and the reader have some kind of epiphany by the book's end. Maybe I am just an jaded adult reader, but there were no aha! moments for me in this book. It just felt like it went on forever with no payoff.
Reviews
Some reviewers had a different perspective on this one. Hazel Rochman from Booklist felt that "the real story is in the small details, never self-consciously "poetic" but tense with family drama" (Rochman, 2004). She noted the slow change in the sisters' roles as the older sister who was the caretaker becomes the cared-for. She speaks of "plain, beautiful prose that can barely contain the passionate feelings" of the narrator (Rochman, 2004). Other reviewers felt more as I did; this book has been cited by Anita Silvey as evidence that the Newbery award has lost its way and is being awarded to books that are more esoteric and less appealing to popular audiences.
Use in the library
Because this book devotes much of its word count to developing its characters, it would be a good edition to a writer's workshop. The language of the book is fairly subtle so it could be a good learning tool. It would also be interesting to use this book as part of a multiculturalism celebration. One of my classmates discussed how her fellow teacher focused on a different culture or ethnic group every month to make people of many different backgrounds feel included and special. I love this idea because I think too many people treat racism like it is simple and as if it can only go one way. It would really be interesting to look at this book as a voice from another culture, and as one that experiences racism. It might help others to see that even though the speaker is Japanese-American, she sounds a lot like any child in America whose life is complicated and sometimes confusing. I think that is something any reader can identify with.
References
Kadohata, C. (2006). Kira-kira. New York, NY: Atheneum Books.
Rochman, H. (2004). Kadohata, Cynthia. Kira-Kira. Booklist: 100(9-10), p. 858. Retrieved from Literature Resource Center.
Silvey, A. (2008). Has the Newbery lost its way? School Library Journal. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6600688.html.
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