Review by Booklist Review
Grief stricken following the death of his mother, 12-year-old Vancouverite Kaede Hirano makes some poor decisions (setting fire to a house and bashing his best friend's face) that result in his being sent to Japan to reconnect with his estranged father. Dad is a no-show, however, leaving Kaede's older half brother, Shoma, to shoulder the family responsibility. Kaede is drawn to this cool older sibling, even as he fears rejection if he dares to trust him. Additionally, Kaede has a school assignment, ""What Home Means,"" which drives his keen observations of his geographic and cultural experiences. Journal entries addressed to his mother, father, and former best friend reveal much of the back story and help Kaede to eventually accept that his father is incapable of a relationship. Chinese Canadian Chapman writes convincingly about both Vancouver and Japan (where she now resides), and her lyrical text successfully addresses loss, family, and cultural identity. Although there's more navel-gazing here than in typical middle-grade fare, the homage to Japan and Japanese culture makes up for it.--Kay Weisman Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
Traveling often realigns a persons worldview, and such is the case with twelve-year-old Kaede Hirano, a Japanese Canadian boy from Vancouver. His parents divorced nine years ago, and his father moved to Tokyo, taking Shoma, Kaedes half-brother, with him. Kaede hasnt seen them for so long they have become only as real as the characters I saw on TV. Kaedes mother was killed recently in a car accident, and now Kaede feels like a stuck gear, just spinning and going nowhere. For a school assignment, Kaede begins keeping a journal on the topic of home; it becomes his constant companion when he travels to Tokyo to spend the summer with his father and Shoma. Chapman effectively alternates Kaedes first-person narrative with letters he writes in his journal to his deceased mother, his father, his friend Jory, and his school counselor. By summers end, Kaedes journal has become thick with tickets and photos and writing, with everything else that felt rightand his world has, indeed, been realigned to include a new understanding of home. A novel rich with the sensory details of life in Tokyo and the complexities of a young boy finding his way. dean Schneider September/October 2019 p.81(c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
