Customer Reviews

Kira-KIra

5 star:		(89)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say that Cynthia Kadohata's Newbery winner "Kira-Kira" is a book that you either love or a book that you loathe to the fullest. Well, I'm a thirteen-year old and I enjoyed it to the fullest. And what really bugs me is that it is ADULT reviewers who are saying this book is too depressing for children. ADULT! Have you people ever heard of Bridge to Terabithia. It was just as depressing, if not more (though, brilliant I might add). I'm not even gonna mention last year's Olive's Ocean.

I'm a reader and fan of E. Bird's reviews, but she's got this one all wrong (well, except for maybe the bear trap part). Thank you Amazon, for letting a teen vent!

R

I read this in one day. I couldn't put it down. The writing is beautiful, the characters are likeable, and the sense of time and place are authentic. This is a wonderful story of a Japanese-American family and its struggle with prejudice, poverty, and disease. The book has humor and sadness, but ultimately it left me feeling joyous. I loved it.

After reading Kira-Kira,I had found my new favourite author. Kadohata had touched both myself and a good friend of mine. My friend was in tears at the end of the book. I could understand why she wept for I too felt touched by Kadohata's book. Kadohata filled every chapter with such strong emotions and used such colourful vocabulary. Kadohata is surely one of the most amazing authors of all time.

In many ways, the Newbery Award is my favorite kind of award out there. Some people prefer the Oscars. Others enjoy the Emmys. And even a few sad souls look forward to the National Book Awards. But the Newberys are different in a single undeniable way. Where other awards tell you ahead of time who the top nominations for the prize are, until the Newbery Award is announced anybody could win. Anyone who's written an American children's book, that is. Sometimes this yields fabulous winners that truly deserve their awards, like "Holes" by Louis Sacher (enjoyed equally by kids and adults, funny, moving, serious, ridiculous, and more). Other times, it yields books like "kira-kira". Ah, my poor "kira-kira". A perfectly fine book that will now be loathed and abhorred by countless generations of schoolchildren the world over. "kira-kira" is not bad, per say. But it brilliantly fulfills every stereotype of Newbery Award winners. It is depressing (sometimes ridiculously so), more of a teen novel than a book intended for children, and just the kind of story that contains lovely prose in an exceedingly boring way. It's sad to say, but now we must officially declare the 2005 Newbery year as a bum one. Pity.

Born in 1951, Katie Takeshima loves one person more than anyone else in the world. Her older sister Lynn. Lynn and Katie are inseparable from the get-go. Unlike those older sisters that would belittle or hurt their younger adoring siblings, Lynn makes sure that Katie comes with her everywhere. Their family lives in Iowa and must make some big changes when they move to Georgia. Being Japanese-Americans living in the 1950s, their parents must face terrible jobs and long hours. Worse still, Lynn seems to be losing a lot of energy for unknown reasons. As Katie grows and watches her beloved sister slipping away she must learn how to cope with the world on her own, bravely.

You know you're in for a bumpy ride in a novel when, right from the start, the main character starts talking about her adored older sister in the past tense. You know you're in even bigger trouble when she starts reading passages out of that sister's diary. I found many similarities in this book to Adeline Yen Mah's, "Chinese Cinderella", in terms of tone and plotting. For example, about the time Mah's main character was given a sweet fluffy yellow baby chick, you knew that chick was doomed. Similarly, "kira-kira" lost me when, out of nowhere, a main character got trapped in a bear trap. I mean COME ON people. A bear trap? Books for children usually lose me when they become depressing to the point of ridiculousness. Bear traps are inherently ridiculous. So too are passages in which the main character says things like, "I wondered if anyone else in history had ever been as sad as I was at that moment".

None of this is to say that the book isn't well-written. But there's also the fact that this book really isn't your average kiddie fare. You have adults wearing pads in their underwear because their jobs don't allow them to use the bathroom, discussions of menstruation, and a rather adult tone to the entire book. Prior to this award, the New York Public Library had cataloged this book as young adult. Which, honestly, is where this belongs. To say that this is a children's book simply because the narrator is a child is patently ridiculous.

So teachers everywhere, educators worldwide, heed my plea on behalf of reluctant child readers. Do NOT make them read this book in class. Sure, some kids will discover this tale on their own and they may certainly enjoy it. But like Cassandra I can see that many more children will someday be assigned this in school and that it will turn them off of good literature for years and years to come. A great crime is committed by everyone who forces this tale on a young `un. Don't be part of the problem. If you want to hand "kira-kira" to a teen, do so. If you want to read it yourself, do so. But if you want to earn yourself a great deal of scorn and rolling of the eyes, make a kid read it. It's a fine book. Just not worth the hype.

The Newbery Award winner for 2005, and a charming book. It's nice to get a Newbery winner about an intact family. Newbery seems to favor youngsters in the primary role who have to deal with little or no family support. The last time we saw a winner with a family together was `98's Out of the Dust. The family is a powerfully good thing here. While I would expect most readers to focus on the story's death, really it seems to be more about affirming life and loving our family wholly. The portrayal of Japanese family (and community) values and life for those of Japanese ancestry some fifty years ago is done gently but clearly. The characters are well done, the parents and two sisters, especially. (The younger brother is fine, but his age limits personality breadth.) The sisters' relationship with one another is precious. As an adult reader, I thought it very good and can completely see why Newbery chose it. My concern about it is how a young person will see it. There's relatively little action here and I could imagine a young reader finding it much less than compelling. As such, I would probably recommend the honor book Al Capone Does My Shirts (which also nicely has an intact family with a special sibling relationship) before Kira-Kira.

Kira-Kira (kee'ra kee'ra): means glittering; shining in Japanese.

Kira-Kira is a spectacular book thanks to the author, Cynthia Kadohata.

Glittering. That's how Lynn Takeshima, Katie Takeshima's older sister, always makes everything seem. The sky and how deep it is but see-through at the same time. Even peoples eyes and how they sparkle in their beautiful color. The stars and how they glisten and shine among the moon. All kira-kira. So basically, Lynn is a very calm, magical, and mellow person. Katie, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. She is a very out-going and risk-taking kind of girl, but when she gets out of hand, Lynn is always there to get her off the curb, and back on the road.

The Takeshima family went through hard times. After Lynn had died of a severe illness, the whole family had fallen apart. Katie was twelve when Lynn had died and she was very depressed for a long time. So it was up to Katie to get over her depression and remind her family and herself, that there is always something glittering- kira-kira -in the future.

All of this drama and adventure that had happened to the Takeshima family had taken place during the 1950s in the Deep South of Georgia.

Love and hope is the theme of this book. It taught you that when you have a time in your life of frustration or difficulties, you just get a good grip and hang on tight. Just never let go. That's exactly why I like, no, love this book. They just never gave up on hope.

I really enjoyed this book. I felt really bad for Katie when she had to move from her home that she grew up in and how her parents were losing all of their money. Then she became the third wheel whenever her sister Lynn brought her friend Amber along.I would love to say more, but I don't want to give anything away. Overall this was a wonderful book and I enjoyed a lot.

"Kira-Kira" is not like most other books; instead of a linear narrative with a clear plot, conflict, climax, and resoloution, this story reads in a more sprawling, nonlinear way. I had heard that it felt like a memoir, and this is definitely true; the first-person narrative only adds to the feeling. Yet still, as main character Katie recounts her life as a young Japanese American growing up in Georgia in the early '60s, the events along the way are at times very funny, often sad, and always captivating. The main theme is Katie's relationship with her sister Lynn, as the two girls alternately come together and drift apart, but "Kira-Kira" also touches on poverty, discrimination, and coming of age. It's a wonderful book, whether you're looking for a meaty read for younger kids or a breezy one for teens.

Cynthia Kadohata's `Kira-Kira' is an inspirational and moving book. Katie is a young girl who looks up to her older sister, Lynn. It might be her good looks, love for animals, or smarts that seems to attract everyone's attention. Katie's family includes a strict mother, an easygoing father, and the odd fish, Uncle Katsuhisa. They receive many looks, for they are Japanese, and come from Iowa. Katie and Lynn aren't exactly enthusiastic about moving to Georgia, but their parents need jobs at the Hatchery.

Lynn tells Katie that kira-kira means glittering, and they have many ways to use kira-kira. She describes that the sky is kira-kira because it's deep, but see-through at the same time. The ocean and eyes are kira-kira for the exact same reason. Kadohata's writing style is just like the sky and the ocean. It has deep meaning, even though at first it seems like a children's book. I thoroughly enjoyed the character development, and the small jokes spread throughout the book. Overall, I would seriously suggest this book to people who are looking for a fictional, emotional, and moving book.

I had read this book in 5th grade (currently in 6th) and enjoyed every bit of it. Everyone thinks this book is for teens but to me it was fine. It's true the book does get a bit depressing, still it goes at a good pace and its not boring at all. Newberys never lie, i reccomend this book for 9 up though