crystal_reading's review against another edition
5.0
Review Copy: Digital ARC via Netgalley.
This is a wonderfully told story of survival during a very difficult time. Like many people growing up in the U.S., history has been very internally focused. WWII information for me was usually very focused on how the U.S. or Europe was involved.
Japan had colonized many places including Manchuria. This story brings that time period to life. It also lets us see that people have been fleeing for their lives from many places for a very long time.
Natsu is persistent and smart. She learns a lot about herself and what she is capable of during this challenging time.
I'm partial to novels in verse and this is another one I really enjoyed. It's not an easy story to read. It's difficult to witness the suffering, but it's also a story of love and strength. I think it will be a way to open up peoples' ideas of the scope of the war. We call it a World War for a reason and so many more people and places were involved that I would have believed given what I learned in school.
I'd recommend this for use in classrooms, but also as reading for anyone who enjoys historical fiction, novels in verse, or survival stories.
This is a wonderfully told story of survival during a very difficult time. Like many people growing up in the U.S., history has been very internally focused. WWII information for me was usually very focused on how the U.S. or Europe was involved.
Japan had colonized many places including Manchuria. This story brings that time period to life. It also lets us see that people have been fleeing for their lives from many places for a very long time.
Natsu is persistent and smart. She learns a lot about herself and what she is capable of during this challenging time.
I'm partial to novels in verse and this is another one I really enjoyed. It's not an easy story to read. It's difficult to witness the suffering, but it's also a story of love and strength. I think it will be a way to open up peoples' ideas of the scope of the war. We call it a World War for a reason and so many more people and places were involved that I would have believed given what I learned in school.
I'd recommend this for use in classrooms, but also as reading for anyone who enjoys historical fiction, novels in verse, or survival stories.
lawbooks600's review against another edition
4.0
Representation: Japanese main character
Trigger warnings: Displacement, refugee experiences, military violence and war themes, death of an aunt, death of parents
Sounds like a very sad book but I could enjoy this one.
Update: 8/10, this was a new arrival at one of the two libraries I go to at the time I read this and I am familiar with verse novels so I went in with high expectations and you won't believe this but guess what, I was blown away by the sheer brilliance of this! This story was set during the last months of WWII and the year after that but it still resonates. I've read several refugee stories such as Illegal by Eoin Colfer, Refugee by Alan Gratz and so many others, some were good and some were not. This book falls in the former category and I'm glad it did. The writing style was minimal but amazing and the main character was so well written I could feel bad for her as she lost almost everything like her parents, her home, and her aunt but still, she has the resilience, hope, and perseverance to keep on going. Recommended if you like verse novels or a book about immigration. The only other books that are similar to this are Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga and Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhhà Lại, I'll surely look for that book in the future and I enjoyed the other one.
Trigger warnings: Displacement, refugee experiences, military violence and war themes, death of an aunt, death of parents
Sounds like a very sad book but I could enjoy this one.
Update: 8/10, this was a new arrival at one of the two libraries I go to at the time I read this and I am familiar with verse novels so I went in with high expectations and you won't believe this but guess what, I was blown away by the sheer brilliance of this! This story was set during the last months of WWII and the year after that but it still resonates. I've read several refugee stories such as Illegal by Eoin Colfer, Refugee by Alan Gratz and so many others, some were good and some were not. This book falls in the former category and I'm glad it did. The writing style was minimal but amazing and the main character was so well written I could feel bad for her as she lost almost everything like her parents, her home, and her aunt but still, she has the resilience, hope, and perseverance to keep on going. Recommended if you like verse novels or a book about immigration. The only other books that are similar to this are Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga and Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhhà Lại, I'll surely look for that book in the future and I enjoyed the other one.
lifeinpoetry's review
4.0
I had vague knowledge of Manchuria but nothing beyond generalities so took a quick foray into this YA novel-in-verse to edify myself. While the politics of people occupying and building upon the land of others is questionable it's addressed and the people who have occupied are not all bad, many show kindness to the displaced women and children and even risk their lives to help them on their retreat back to Japan. Overall, a decent introduction to Manchuria that shows the humanity of all.
tattooedlibrarian's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
emperor_e's review
4.0
Written beautifully, and with a great story, I definitely enjoyed this book. This was not a time or place that I knew basically anything about so it was really interesting. My problem is that the description does not seem to fit the book very well. My issues are that her sisters name in the book is not Cricket, and they are not in Manchuria the whole time. Overall though a good story that I would recommend.
thebookishlibrarian's review against another edition
Thanks to SLJ for a review copy of this book.
This novel in verse follows twelve-year-old Natsu and her family who live in Manchuria, near the Soviet Union during World War II. Then Natsu’s father joins the Japanese Army, and she and her younger sister Asa are left to fend for themselves. Desperate to save Asa’s life, Natsu sells Asa to a Russian family after the Soviet occupation, with the ultimate goal of getting her back and making her family whole again.
This novel in verse follows twelve-year-old Natsu and her family who live in Manchuria, near the Soviet Union during World War II. Then Natsu’s father joins the Japanese Army, and she and her younger sister Asa are left to fend for themselves. Desperate to save Asa’s life, Natsu sells Asa to a Russian family after the Soviet occupation, with the ultimate goal of getting her back and making her family whole again.
abriggs07's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
alaspooriorek's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.75
lberestecki's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
the_fabric_of_words's review against another edition
5.0
This book was super interesting, for two reasons.
1. It's written in free verse, which I noticed with my middle school students was an excellent way to engage reluctant, English as a second language, and not quite up to grade-level readers. The free verse structure -- super short lines, with 8-9 words per line max -- makes for very easy entry into the text and keeps students reading, because of high success and low frustration levels. Students progress quickly through the text, giving them a sense of accomplishment and pride as they read.
2. The POV (point-of-view -- ELA teachers note this) is unique, that I'm aware of, for WWII literature on the market right now. The story is told from the POV of a Japanese girl, whose family worked a farm seized from Chinese farmers in Manchuria, near the U.S.S.R. border.
Twelve-year-old Natsu doesn't necessarily understand that her parents are working fields that were taken from Chinese farmers. She understands the Chinese don't like the Japanese working the farms, but she's not yet politically astute enough to understand why, or what had to happen for her parents to get the farm in the first place.
Her world falls apart with the 1945 invasion by the Soviet Union of China, liberating the Japanese-occupied farms and returning them to their Chinese rightful owners. But what happens to the Japanese children, when their parents are rounded up and taken away?
Desperately sick with dysentery and charged with looking after her little brother by her father, before he's taken away, she gives her little brother to a wealthy Russian woman who promises to take care of him.
But when Natsu decides to head back to Japan and find her parents, she's determined to take her little brother with her. She outstubborns the woman, who finally gives him up, and they start their journey.
This is not a feel-good story. You don't get a clear ending. There is little or no hope that they'll find their parents when they return to Japan, in those final lines of verse, and apparently this mirrors the real life experiences of those who escaped and made it back to Japan. They were not welcomed, they often had no one to greet them, as none of their families survived or would acknowledge them once they returned.
It's a grim period in a history not often examined in US-WWII curriculum, and would make an excellent addition to your ELA poetry offerings. I can't recommend it in Teachers, however, as I could find no free teaching resources to accompany this book.
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
1. It's written in free verse, which I noticed with my middle school students was an excellent way to engage reluctant, English as a second language, and not quite up to grade-level readers. The free verse structure -- super short lines, with 8-9 words per line max -- makes for very easy entry into the text and keeps students reading, because of high success and low frustration levels. Students progress quickly through the text, giving them a sense of accomplishment and pride as they read.
2. The POV (point-of-view -- ELA teachers note this) is unique, that I'm aware of, for WWII literature on the market right now. The story is told from the POV of a Japanese girl, whose family worked a farm seized from Chinese farmers in Manchuria, near the U.S.S.R. border.
Twelve-year-old Natsu doesn't necessarily understand that her parents are working fields that were taken from Chinese farmers. She understands the Chinese don't like the Japanese working the farms, but she's not yet politically astute enough to understand why, or what had to happen for her parents to get the farm in the first place.
Her world falls apart with the 1945 invasion by the Soviet Union of China, liberating the Japanese-occupied farms and returning them to their Chinese rightful owners. But what happens to the Japanese children, when their parents are rounded up and taken away?
Desperately sick with dysentery and charged with looking after her little brother by her father, before he's taken away, she gives her little brother to a wealthy Russian woman who promises to take care of him.
But when Natsu decides to head back to Japan and find her parents, she's determined to take her little brother with her. She outstubborns the woman, who finally gives him up, and they start their journey.
This is not a feel-good story. You don't get a clear ending. There is little or no hope that they'll find their parents when they return to Japan, in those final lines of verse, and apparently this mirrors the real life experiences of those who escaped and made it back to Japan. They were not welcomed, they often had no one to greet them, as none of their families survived or would acknowledge them once they returned.
It's a grim period in a history not often examined in US-WWII curriculum, and would make an excellent addition to your ELA poetry offerings. I can't recommend it in Teachers, however, as I could find no free teaching resources to accompany this book.
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/