Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata

Title: Kira-Kira

Author: Cynthia Kadohata

Glittering. That’s how Katie Takeshima’s sister, Lynn, makes everything seem. The sky is kira-kira because its color is deep but see-through at the same time. The sea is kira-kira for the same reason. And so are people’s eyes. When Katie and her family move from a Japanese community in Iowa to the Deep South of Georgia, it’s Lynn who explains to her why people stop them on...more

Katie Takeshima, born in 1950 in Iowa, loves her sister, Lynn, more than anything in the world. It was Lynn who teach her, her first word, Kira-Kira which means glittering in Japanese. She told Katie that Kira-Kira can be found everywhere in our surrounding. In people's eyes, at the blue sky and of course, in the star. But when they are force to move to Georgia because of financial problems Katie has to struggle to find Kira-Kira in the streets of their small town.

Katie and Lynn and their new-born baby brother, Sammy always have each other. With their parents working on the hachery on long hours, they depend on each other. But when Lynn fall seriously ill, and their family are falling apart it's up to Katie to hold them together and make them realize that there's still something glittering- Kira-Kira- in the future.  

The story is told as a flashback, so we know from the beginning that Lynn would die.

This story views the time of the  postwar years from the eyes of Katie Takeshima. Katie is the middle child of the family. She always look up to her sister and she knows her sister will always be there for her. Their relationship are strong and nothing can come up between no matter it's just boys or even disease. They always   find Kira-Kira in their life. When it comes to Lynn disease, the writer is not afraid to go into some darker territory that parents may not feel that their children are ready to face. For all the sad moments in the book, they did end up with a note of hope. Kira-Kira is a beautifully written story  about how a family hold themselves together trough hardship. This book will make people laugh and cry and teach you that, whenever you feel lost or when you can't hold it any longer, there's still hope and family should be together. There's always  Kira-Kira in our life.

Favorite Quotation:

~“For everything in my life, I would ask, Why? Why didn't the Chinese lady have teeth? Probably it was because she didn't brush them enough. I asked myself why we had to move to Georgia. It was because my father needed to work at this hatchery so he could support us better. Why did I kind of like that boy? Because he was kind of cute. And why was Lynnie sick? Why? There was no answer to that.” 
~“Some days I think she was really miserable, because she cried a lot. In a way, I'd had to steel my heart to her crying. You need to steel yourself to a lot of things when someone in your family is really sick.” 

Kira-Kira is the MOST AWESOME BOOK IN THE HISTORY OF AWESOMENESS!! There I said it. I'm glad my sister bought it. When I first saw the book I don't really think much bout it. But after hearing about how awesome this book is from my sister, I give it a go. And glad that I did! 

Though the book start out kinda slow but things start to get interesting in the middle. I highly recommend it to readers out there! 

Marshmallow I Will Give: