SYNOPSIS

Katie and her Japanese-American family of five – older sister Lynn and baby brother Sam – move from Iowa to rural Georgia to seek work.

Both parents find grueling, round-the-clock jobs in nearby poultry farms while the children acclimate to an unfamiliar community and find friends.

When Lynn begins battling a mysterious ailment, her parents move the family into a small house hoping she would feel better.

She doesn’t recover and the family eventually loses their eldest daughter; we find out she had been fighting lung cancer.

Katie inherits Lynn’s diary to keep her sister’s memory alive, while the whole family travels to California to visit the sea Kin Lynn’s honor.

Despite her initial reluctance, Katie’s mom casts the decisive vote in the poultry workers’ push to unionize against the cruel treatment at work.

PERFECT AGE 11 – 14

We love

• The daughters are beautifully dedicated to their parents and dream of buying them nice houses to live in when they grow up.
• Katie’s voice is simultaneously that of a mature caregiver and a of very young child making it both inspiring and heartbreaking to follow the narrative through her perspective!
• In a short chapter toward the end of the book, the dad’s bouts of anger, remorse , and deep care for Katie are the best of any of the characters’ developments.

WATCH OUT FOR (Language, Big / Sensitive Topics, Outdated Concepts):

• Cruel conditions in the poultry factory – mom needing to wear a diaper so she doesn’t stop working, male chicks being killed at birth – are described in detail.
• The torment of Lynn’s prolonged disease and eventual death may be jarring to younger readers.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

• Do your feelings toward Uncle Katsuhisa change over time? How so?
• Does the family’s Japanese culture play a part in their day-to-day life? Can you think of a few unique habits that are different from other families in town?
• What makes Lynn and Katie’s relationship special? What are Katie’s feelings toward Amber and why?
• What makes Katie feel so extremely guilty for her behavior right before Lynn’s death? Do you think her worries are warranted?