Their closeness causes Katie to feel excluded, though Lynn takes pains to include Katie whenever possible. Lynn and her new white friend, Amber, practice walking like fashion models, try on lipstick, and whisper together secretly. Lynn receives a diagnosis of anemia, an illness that will wax and wane, gradually worsening over time. When struck in the chest with a dodgeball, however, Lynn takes to bed, surprising Katie when she actually misses school the next day. Several years later, Lynn, now a young teen, is still the organizer of all the neighborhood’s children. Like his father, Sammy is a particularly tranquil child. Katie and Lynn rush home from school each day to care for Sammy. Katie’s dislike of school moderates to an extent with the birth of Sammy. She receives straight C’s and Katie daydreams in class, having romantic fantasies about her future husband and children. The next year, Lynn tries to prepare Katie to face the prejudice she knows Katie will face, but Katie’s experience of school is the opposite Lynn’s. Katie cries so hard during her first days of kindergarten that her parents allow her to miss her entire first year of schooling. Lynn loves school and becomes a favorite of her teachers, though she has no friends among the school’s white students. Female chicks become “broilers,” and workers quickly euthanize the male chicks. With Uncle’s help, Father obtains a job as a chick sexer at a hatchery. Several families living in and around the apartment are also Japanese American, providing a welcoming community that provides both emotional support and childcare as Mother and Father go to work. Katie’s family moves into a very small two-bedroom apartment in a one-story complex.
Along the way to Georgia, they witness prejudice against people of color and experience it themselves.Īrriving in fictional Chesterfield, Georgia, the family reacquaints themselves with Uncle’s wife, Auntie Fumi, and twin sons David and Daniel, who are close to Katie’s age. The move is traumatic for the girls, who spend the drive constantly crying. When their parents’ Asian food store in rural Iowa fails, her father’s brother Uncle Katsuhisa helps the family relocate to rural Georgia, where they can obtain jobs in the poultry industry. While Katie is hard-headed and inclined to be naughty, she sees Lynn as brilliant and beautiful. Katie Takeshima has a loving relationship with her sister Lynn, who is four years older. This guide uses the 2006 Atheneum Books paperback edition.Ĭontent Warning: This novel references death and contains some profanity.
Kira-Kira received the 2005 Newbery Medal. Kadohata has written more than 10 novels for young people. Kadohata, a Japanese American Baby Boomer, has likened herself to Katie in interviews about the writing process, saying that her background led to the creation of the book.
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