Skye and Hiroshi are cousins, but they’ve never met. How could they, when Skye’s father hasn’t spoken to his Japanese family since before she was born? But now their grandfather is sick, and the family is coming to the United States for his treatment. Skye and Hiroshi are stuck with each other.
Now Skye doesn’t know who she is anymore; at school she’s suddenly too Japanese, but at home she’s not Japanese enough. And as Hiroshi struggles to improve his English, he has to contend with Skye butting in on his rokkaku kite-flying time with Grandfather—time that seems to be running out.
Reviews and Honors
* Minnesota Youth Reading Awards Maud Hart Lovelace Award Master List,
2016-2017
* Massachusetts Children’s Book Award (MCBA) Master List, 2014-2015
* Missouri Association of School Librarians (MASL) Readers Awards
Preliminary List, 2014-2015
* Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List, 2013-2014
* Missouri Association of School Librarians Readers Awards Preliminary List,
2014-2015
* 2014 Sakura Medal Nominee
* Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) Choices 2013
* Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Books of the Year List,
Book of Outstanding Merit, 2013
* International Reading Association Children’s and Young Adult Book Awards, Intermediate Fiction Honor Book, 2013
* IndieBound Kids’ Summer Next List, 2012
* New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing, 2012
* Summer Kids' Indie Next List, 2012
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“A quiet, beautifully moving portrayal of a multicultural family.”
~Kirkus, starred review
“An empathetic and quietly affecting fish-out-of-water story.”
~Publishers Weekly
"With its broad appeal for both boys and girls, this title is a solid choice for middle grade audiences.” ~School Library Journal
"...an intimate view of [the characters'] believable emotional life and maturation in this involving story." ~Horn Book
"Lorenzi has penned a smart, tight little novel about pride, prejudice, false expectations, and learning to accept differences, all with apparent effortless ease." ~Betsy Bird, Fuse#8, A School Library Journal Blog
“First-time novelist Natalie Dias Lorenzi writes a tender story about cultural disconnect, even in one’s own family. ~Terry Hong, Book Dragon; Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program
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