Kira - Kira
Newbery Medal Winner 2005
By Cynthia Kadohata
Atheneum Books
New York
2004
ISBN 0689856393
Ages 9 - 12
In the story, Katie's parents work for a poultry producing (hatchery and processing plants) company, which requires long hours and grueling work. Her mother isn't even allowed to leave the sterile processing room for restroom breaks. The father works eighty hour weeks and has little time to even rest, much less spend time with the family. Their goal is to own their own home, and the family scrimps and scrapes to save the money to do that.
The primary story centers around the relationship between Katie and her sister, but a serious illness changes everything in the family. The parents go ahead and borrow the money so Lynn can experience living in the blue house she had always dreamed of. A lesser plot in the story involves the beginning efforts to unionize the poultry plants in order to improve the work conditions. Katie's parents are against unionization efforts at first, but when they finally see the toll the long and hard work conditions are taking on their family and experience the tremendous loss in the story, they realize the importance of family and their short time together.
I thought the beginning of the story sounded more like an older child telling it rather than through a preschooler's perspective. I didn't gather that any of it was a flashback either. I remember before figuring out Katie's age wondering how old she was, and was surprised to find out she was as young as she was. Her vocabulary and how she responded to situations had me picturing an older child. That is the only concern that arose from reading the story.
The author presents another perspective of the American dream through an Asian immigrant family's experience, which is a welcome voice that has been previously underrepresented in our literature.