Lynn teaches Katie about everything under the sun, including the word kira-kira, which means glittering. Katie and her sister, Lynn, share an unbreakable bond. Despite their many hardships, they have each other. They are shunned in their community for the work they do and for being Japanese, however, they are an extremely loving and close-knit family. They rent a small, cramped apartment and struggle to make ends meet. The mother has another baby, but when babysitting stops being available, Katie and her baby brother sit in their hot car during her mother’s long shifts because they have no place to go and are not allowed in or near the building. Her father’s working hours are so long that he often sleeps at the hatchery during the few hours he has between shifts. Katie’s mother wears special pads to work that are designed for urine breakthroughs, because the company doesn’t allow unscheduled bathroom breaks. The parents work around the clock under deplorable working conditions in a company owned by the extremely wealthy, powerful, and tyrannical Mr. After their Oriental food store goes out of business, the family relocates to Georgia, where her parents find work in the poultry industry. Katie lives in a small rented house in Iowa with her parents and older sister (and best friend), Lynn. It wasn’t easy being Japanese and living in America in the 1950s. Although Kadohata had previously written other books, Kira-Kira was the first one she wrote for younger audiences. Kira-Kira is a Newbery Medal winning novel by Cynthia Kadohata.
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