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Orchards | Holly Thompson | Japan | Ember | 2012 | ISBN:0385739788
Synopsis (from the book jacket)
After a classmate commits suicide, Kana Goldberg—a half-Japanese, half-Jewish American—wonders who is responsible. She and her cliquey friends said some thoughtless things to the girl. Hoping that Kana will reflect on her behavior, her parents pack her off to her mother's ancestral home in Japan for the summer. There Kana spends hours under the hot sun tending to her family's mikan orange groves.
Kana's mixed heritage makes it hard to fit in at first, especially under the critical eye of her traditional grandmother, who has never accepted Kana's father. But as the summer unfolds, Kana gets to know her relatives, Japan, and village culture, and she begins to process the pain and guilt she feels about the tragedy back home. Then news about a friend sends her world spinning out of orbit all over again.
Kana's mixed heritage makes it hard to fit in at first, especially under the critical eye of her traditional grandmother, who has never accepted Kana's father. But as the summer unfolds, Kana gets to know her relatives, Japan, and village culture, and she begins to process the pain and guilt she feels about the tragedy back home. Then news about a friend sends her world spinning out of orbit all over again.
Honors and Awards
- Winner of the APALA Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature
- An ALA-YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Book
- A Bank Street Books 2012 Best Children’s Books of the Year Title
- SCBWI 2012 Crystal Kite Winner
- 2012-2013 Isinglass Teen Read Award nominee
- A 2011 Librarians’ Choice: Poetry title
- Shortlisted for a Red Dot Book Award 2011-2012
- Shortlisted for a Sakura Medal Award 2012
Recommended Teaching Resources
http://www.hatbooks.com/files/BookGroupGUIDE012612.pdf
About the Book
http://www.hatbooks.com/orchards_90186.htm
Discussion Guide
http://www.hatbooks.com/files/BookGroupGUIDE012612.pdf
Author Interview
http://www.teenink.com/fiction/author_interviews/article/298674/Author-Holly-Thompson/
Book Trailer
http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce_TnrwJ_r4
