From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 16:10:52 -0600

Others who also appreciate "Kira-Kira" have shared so eloquently some of the reasons why they consider it to be a marvelously well written work of fiction, and I agree. Cynthia Kadohata expertly portrayed young Katie's relationship to her older sister Lynn and how this relationship became altered. One of the striking scenes between these two quite different girls of Japanese American heritage occurred at the moment when Lynn warned Katie about the racist attitudes she'll encounter when she goes to school. What a stark loss of innocence for readers to experience along with Katie - different, but possibly close to being as severe as what she later experiences while confronting the consequences of Lynn's illness. Yet this same older sister also gently interpreted a larger vision of life itself as being something shining and glittering, as being "kira-kira." Readers experience that with Katie, too. Each insight is essential, and both serve Katie well. These themes are expressed in large and small ways throughout this fresh, original novel set in the 1950s. Another important dimension of "Kira-Kira" stems from how seamlessly Kadohata interwove historical, social, race and class issues into her story. Grim implications about what it must have been like for people who had jobs in a poultry "factory" during the 1950s in rural Georgia were heightened by the author's reference to horrific tedious shifts without bathroom breaks, and so the girls' mother and other workers had to wear diaper-like pads. Last year "Kira-Kira" was one of the few books against which I measured all the others.
"Kira-Kira" had seemed to me to be an obvious Newbery contender almost all year. My astonishment last month resulted from finding out that its Newbery Award was a surprise to so many, that apparently it couldn't be found in most libraries, and that even fewer bookstores had kept it in stock.
  I wasn't surprised that "Lizzie Bright..." garnered attention, because it's one of the very well written novels published last year. The story begins in the 1900s and features Turner, a white boy new to town who becomes friends with Lizzie, a child of color living in a nearby island community. There's more to it than that, of course. The plot elements yet to be examined will be similar to those Rudine Sims [Bishop] discussed in her classic study "Shadow and Substance: Afro-American Experience in Contemporary Children's Fiction" (NCTE, 1982); she looked at 150 books of realistic fiction about Blacks published between 1965 and 1979. The "about Blacks" elements in the plot & character development continue to puzzle me. I wonder about Lizzie, whose own dramatic story is minimized, although it's based on actual history. She's a title character reduced to being the main character's helper. Could Turner's story with its quite improbable ending have unfolded just as well without her? As long as Lizzie's in his story, what happened along the way to her truly dramatic story involving the historic removal of a particular community?
  The spotlight shining down on these honored books is typically brighter than other illuminations shining on any of the thousands of other books published in that same year. Very few "perfect" or "distinguished" books can endure the glare. But without these important annual awards, the overall quality of what's published for young readers in this nation would probably suffer in drastic ways. Knowledge of their impact draws authors, artists, and editors to do their best on behalf of kids & families who might someday be attracted to the shiny award seals. No one knows better than our colleagues on award committees that the glow of reaching consensus rapidly begins to feel as if a harsh light is now directed at the books they agreed to honor. It really doesn't matter whether or not you or I agree with their award choices. It does matter that we can agree to take turns holding up the spotlight and try to show each other whatever it is we each see within this or that award book. Although we can't know what was or wasn't addressed within the award discussions, we can continue to learn so much from each other as we candidly share our reactions to the books.
  Right now I hope to learn more from other readers of each of the Newbery books and especially from the readers of "Al Capone..." What did you like about this particular Newbery Honor Book? How do you understand the relationships in this story? the portrayal of the education system then and there? the humor? the plot's involvement of an actual person in history, another title character whose role is quite different from Lizzie's and whose historic personage has an entirely different history in our nation and purpose in this story?
  Best, Ginny
 

Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu
Received on Fri 18 Feb 2005 04:10:52 PM CST