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A review by hweezbooks
While I Was Away by Waka T. Brown
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
The year Japanese-American Waka Tanaka turned 12, her mum decided to send her back to Japan for five months, in the hope of immersing her in enough Japanese so she could become conversant in it.
It was to be a bittersweet time - plucked out of her straight-A midwestern life to coping in a totally Japanese environment, kanji, ink stones and all.
Waka was to live with obaasan, her maternal grandmother and the way the two navigate life around each other, was the most heart-hitting for me. It was a nuanced, distant, love that sent on some tears at the end.
This is an empowering middle grade nonfiction memoir that takes a young reader through Waka’s initial bewilderment at the cultural differences, to her determination to fight through friendships, her grandmother’s own pain as well as succeeding in class.
“By being away, I traveled to realms in my mind and my heart and soul that I didn’t even know were there.”
This book is for young readers who enjoy being immersed in the ins and outs of living and going to school in Japan, and Waka’s candid,humorous, writing makes it an experiential one.
Thank you, @times.reads for sending me this book, I am the richer for this experience!
It was to be a bittersweet time - plucked out of her straight-A midwestern life to coping in a totally Japanese environment, kanji, ink stones and all.
Waka was to live with obaasan, her maternal grandmother and the way the two navigate life around each other, was the most heart-hitting for me. It was a nuanced, distant, love that sent on some tears at the end.
This is an empowering middle grade nonfiction memoir that takes a young reader through Waka’s initial bewilderment at the cultural differences, to her determination to fight through friendships, her grandmother’s own pain as well as succeeding in class.
“By being away, I traveled to realms in my mind and my heart and soul that I didn’t even know were there.”
This book is for young readers who enjoy being immersed in the ins and outs of living and going to school in Japan, and Waka’s candid,humorous, writing makes it an experiential one.
Thank you, @times.reads for sending me this book, I am the richer for this experience!