While I Was Away

November 15, 2020
In 1984, a 12-year-old Kansas girl spends five months in Japan with the intimidating grandmother she barely knows. At school, Waka is used to being regarded as a brain--as well as the short kid. At home, her Japanese immigrant parents worry that in striving so hard to be American, she is losing touch with her heritage. The solution? Sending her to Japan to live with Obaasama and attend a local public school despite her strenuous protests. In her new Japanese school, Waka's language struggles and cultural faux pas make her stand out--and not in a good way. On the other hand, she is considered tall and a jock. Breaking into established social circles presents another puzzle. But everything pales in comparison to learning to get along with her taciturn grandmother, whose traumatic history and emotional complexity come to light as their relationship deepens. Waka finds inner strength she didn't know she had, cultivates greater self-awareness, and comes to truly love many aspects of Japan. The author shares her story in a conversational and accessible tone. Many facets of life in the 1980s will be as surprising as the U.S.-Japan cultural differences that readers unfamiliar with Japan discover alongside young Waka. International travel aside, the journey of coming to see oneself and others through more mature eyes is a universally familiar element of the middle school years, adding additional appeal. An emotional, contemplative tale of risking and growing. (author's note) (Memoir. 10-14)

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December 7, 2020
Brown’s debut explores an experience of having one foot in two cultures in an age-appropriate memoir. When she was 12, Brown’s Japanese-born parents decided to send her to live with her grandmother—Obaasama—in Tokyo for five months. Brown, the first in her family to be born in America, is upset by the prospect of leaving her Kansas friends behind—and attending Japanese school—for more than an entire summer. Once in Japan, however, Brown slowly begins to find her footing, including shared interests—Twix candy bars—with her brusque grandmother. Obaasama, widowed young, maintains the same hard exterior that she employed in raising her own nine children, and Brown learns that Obaasama’s own abusive father—who once burned Obaasama with a branding iron—informed her grandmother’s toughcaretaking style. The text is peppered with Japanese words as well as hiragana, katakana, and kanji, for which Brown explains alphabet and character differences. This personal story offers readers a glimpse at Japanese and American cultural differences while stressing that what makes things different is also what makes them unique. Ages 14–up. Agent: Penny Moore and Erin Files, Aevitas Creative Management. (Jan.)■

January 1, 2021
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* Twelve-year-old Waka's parents realize that, despite being raised in a bilingual household, her Japanese needs a boost, so they send her to live with her grandmother and attend school in Japan for five months. Waka is horrified, not wanting to leave Kansas, friends, and family, but she comes to find that her stay in Japan deepens her cultural understanding, family ties, and sense of self. Brown's debut novel, set from 1983 to 1984, is based on her own experience and perfectly captures the rhythms and cadences of American middle school and Japanese family life. The inclusion of Japanese script, with romanized phonetics and English translations, immerses the reader in Waka's world. Brown directly addresses culture shock, with Waka going from star pupil in Kansas to "dumb jock" in Japan, where she is unable to read fluently and mocked for her accent. Today's tweens will see many similarities between her experiences and their own; bullying from boys and the more subtle but equally painful snubs by girl cliques are especially well drawn. Immigrants from any culture will identify with the difficulties of negotiating a new country and school. But most touching is the transformation of Waka's relationship with her grandmother, a reserved matriarch with a fierce temper. Finally, Brown eschews a Hollywood happy ending, staying true to Japanese traditions and culture, for a far more poignant and realistic ending.

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February 1, 2021

Gr 6 Up-Fearing that she no longer understands Japanese or is connected with her culture, 12-year-old Brown's parents send her to live with her grandmother in Tokyo for five months the summer after sixth grade. Uprooted from 1980s Kansas, Brown feels like a typical American middle schooler, and she does not look forward to attending school in Japan or living with her grandmother, who she views as a stern and serious woman. The narrative follows Brown during her time in Japan as she struggles to befriend her classmates, develop her Japanese language skills, and connect with her grandmother in a country she views as her parents' home rather than her own. The text includes an introduction and an author's note, which explain some aspects of Japanese pronunciation to readers and provides additional contextual information about the time period. Fans of Erin Entrada Kelly and Jasmine Warga will enjoy Brown's honest exploration of differences between American and Japanese culture and her sometimes bumpy journey to fit in with her classmates and her family. VERDICT This memoir artfully depicts Brown's experience as a child who feels pulled between two cultures. A welcome addition to any middle grade collection.-Madison Bishop, Forbes Lib., Northampton, MA

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