Kira-Kira

Elaina Erika Davis displays astonishing range in her seemingly effortless transitions among a variety of languages and accents in her narration of this Newbery winner. The story is told in the first person from the point of view of Katie Takeshima, a Japanese-American girl growing up in Georgia in the 1950s. Listeners will be spellbound as Katie copes with her older sister's leukemia and bears witness to prejudice, a fledgling union movement, and economic hardship. Davis portrays characters as varied as an elderly Japanese-American man and a Southern girl with equal conviction. She gives a flawless, expressive performance that doesn't call attention to itself, allowing listeners to become engrossed in a fascinating and moving story. A.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2005 Newbery Award winner (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

Starred review from February 9, 2004
Set in the 1950s and '60s, Kadohata's moving first novel is narrated by a first-generation Japanese-American girl who moves with her family from Iowa to Georgia when their "Oriental foods grocery store" goes out of business. There, Katie and her family face hardships, including discrimination (she is ignored by the girls at school, for example), and the harsh conditions at the poultry plant where her mother works ("thugs" make sure workers do not gather so that they cannot organize). Katie's father often sleeps at the hatchery between shifts, and when their babysitter goes away, Katie and her brother must stay in the hot car outside the plant while their mother works. But it's her doting older sister Lynn's struggle with lymphoma that really tests her family. Katie's narrative begins almost as stream-of-
consciousness, reflecting a younger child's way of seeing the world. But as she matures through the challenges her family faces, so does the prose. Kadohata movingly captures the family's sustaining love—Lynn and Katie secretly save their treat money for years so they can help their parents buy a house, and when ailing Lynn gets to pick the house, she chooses a sky blue one, because Katie as a "little girl,... had told her wanted our first to be sky blue." The family's devotion to one another, and Lynn's ability to teach Katie to appreciate the "kira-kira," or glittering, in everyday life makes this novel shine. Ages 11-up.