Most Popular Books by Cynthia Kadohata

CRACKER IS ONE OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY''S MOST VALUABLE WEAPONS: a German shepherd trained to sniff out bombs, traps, and the enemy. The fate of entire platoons rests on her keen sense of smell. She''s a Big Deal, and she likes it that way. Sometimes Cracker remembers when she was younger, and her previous owner would feed her hot dogs and let her sleep in his bed. That was nice, too. Rick Hanski is headed to Vietnam. There, he''s going to whip the world and prove to his family and his sergeant -- and everyone else who didn''t think he was cut out for war -- wrong. But sometimes Rick can''t help but wonder that maybe everyone else is right. Maybe he should have just stayed at home and worked in his dad''s hardware store. When Cracker is paired with Rick, she isn''t so sure about this new owner. He''s going to have to prove himself to her before she''s going to prove herself to him. They need to be friends before they can be a team, and they have to be a team if they want to get home alive. Told in part through the uncanny point of view of a German shepherd, Cracker! is an action-packed glimpse into the Vietnam War as seen through the eyes of a dog and her handler. It''s an utterly unique powerhouse of a book by the Newbery Medal-winning author of Kira-Kira.

Twelve-year-old Hanako and her family, reeling from their confinement in an internment camp, renounce their American citizenship to move to Hiroshima, a city devastated by the atomic bomb dropped by Americans.

When eleven-year-old Becca, a quadruplet, finds a sick piglet on the side of the road, her life is changed forever.

There is bad luck, good luck, and making your own luck—which is exactly what Summer must do to save her family in this winner of the National Book Award by Newbery Medalist Cynthia Kadohata. Summer knows that kouun means “good luck” in Japanese, and this year her family has none of it. Just when she thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong, an emergency whisks her parents away to Japan—right before harvest season. Summer and her little brother, Jaz, are left in the care of their grandparents, who come out of retirement in order to harvest wheat and help pay the bills. The thing about Obaachan and Jiichan is that they are old-fashioned and demanding, and between helping Obaachan cook for the workers, covering for her when her back pain worsens, and worrying about her lonely little brother, Summer just barely has time to notice the attentions of their boss’s cute son. But notice she does, and what begins as a welcome distraction from the hard work soon turns into a mess of its own. Having thoroughly disappointed her grandmother, Summer figures the bad luck must be finished—but then it gets worse. And when that happens, Summer has to figure out how to change it herself, even if it means further displeasing Obaachan. Because it might be the only way to save her family. Cynthia Kadohata’s ode to the breadbasket of America has received six starred reviews and won the National Book Award.

A kid who considers himself an epic fail discovers the transformative power of love when he deals with adoption in this novel from Cynthia Kadohata, winner of the Newbery Medal (Kira-Kira) and the National Book Award (The Thing About Luck). Eleven-year-old Jaden is adopted, and he knows he’s an “epic fail.” That’s why his family is traveling to Kazakhstan to adopt a new baby—to replace him, he’s sure. And he gets it. He is incapable of stopping his stealing, hoarding, lighting fires, aggressive running, and obsession with electricity. He knows his parents love him, but he feels...nothing. When they get to Kazakhstan, it turns out the infant they’ve traveled for has already been adopted, and literally within minutes are faced with having to choose from six other babies. While his parents agonize, Jaden is more interested in the toddlers. One, a little guy named Dimash, spies Jaden and barrels over to him every time he sees him. Jaden finds himself increasingly intrigued by and worried about Dimash. Already three years old and barely able to speak, Dimash will soon age out of the orphanage, and then his life will be as hopeless as Jaden feels now. For the first time in his life, Jaden actually feels something that isn’t pure blinding fury, and there’s no way to control it, or its power. From camels rooting through garbage like raccoons, to eagles being trained like hunting dogs, to streets that are more pothole than pavement, the vivid depictions in Half a World Away create “an inspiring story that celebrates hope and second chances” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

Twelve-year-old Sumiko feels her life has been made up of two parts: before Pearl Harbor and after it. The good part and the bad part. Raised on a flower farm in California, Sumiko is used to being the only Japanese girl in her class. Even when the other kids tease her, she always has had her flowers and family to go home to. That all changes after the horrific events of Pearl Harbor. Other Americans start to suspect that all Japanese people are spies for the emperor, even if, like Sumiko, they were born in the United States! As suspicions grow, Sumiko and her family find themselves being shipped to an internment camp in one of the hottest deserts in the United States. The vivid color of her previous life is gone forever, and now dust storms regularly choke the sky and seep into every crack of the military barrack that is her new "home." Sumiko soon discovers that the camp is on an Indian reservation and that the Japanese are as unwanted there as they''d been at home. But then she meets a young Mohave boy who might just become her first real friend...if he can ever stop being angry about the fact that the internment camp is on his tribe''s land. With searing insight and clarity, Newbery Medal-winning author Cynthia Kadohata explores an important and painful topic through the eyes of a young girl who yearns to belong. Weedflower is the story of the rewards and challenges of a friendship across the racial divide, as well as the based-on-real-life story of how the meeting of Japanese Americans and Native Americans changed the future of both.

kira-kira (kee'' ra kee'' ra): glittering; shining Glittering. That''s how Katie Takeshima''s sister, Lynn, makes everything seem. The sky is kira-kira because its color is deep but see-through at the same time. The sea is kira-kira for the same reason. And so are people''s eyes. When Katie and her family move from a Japanese community in Iowa to the Deep South of Georgia, it''s Lynn who explains to her why people stop them on the street to stare. And it''s Lynn who, with her special way of viewing the world, teaches Katie to look beyond tomorrow. But when Lynn becomes desperately ill, and the whole family begins to fall apart, it is up to Katie to find a way to remind them all that there is always something glittering -- kira-kira -- in the future. Luminous in its persistence of love and hope, Kira-Kira is Cynthia Kadohata''s stunning debut in middle-grade fiction.

A NEW YORK TIMES Notable Book of the Year. "Magical...THE FLOATING WORLD is about families, coming of age, guilt, memory...It is also about being Japanese-American in the United States in the 1950''s." --NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW.

"My mother had four daughters by four different men." There''s only one way Shelby and her sisters can describe their mother: She''s a sexpot. Helen Kimura collects men (and loans, spending money, and gifts of all kinds) from all over the country. Sure, she''s not your typical role model, but she''s also not just a pretty face and nail polish. She is confident and brave; she lives life on her own terms, and her four daughters simply adore her. These girls have been raised outside the traditional boundaries. They know how to take the back exit. They know how to dodge crazed lovers in highway car chases. They do not, however, know how to function without one another. Then suddenly they must. A late-night phone call unexpectedly shreds the family apart, catapulting the girls across the country to live with their respective fathers. But these strong-willed sisters are, like their mother, determined to live life on their own terms, and what they do to pull their family back together is nothing short of beautiful. At turns wickedly funny and insistently thought-provoking, Outside Beauty showcases Cynthia Kadohata''s unerring ability to explore the bonds that bind.

A boy and his elephant escape into the jungle when the Viet Cong attack his village immediately after the Vietnam war.

This novel explores human relationships in a Los Angeles of the future, where rich and poor are deeply polarized and where water, food, gas and education cannot be taken for granted.

“Kadohata’s slapshot is the heart-swelling narrative of a father and son…Truly powerful.” —Jason Reynolds “A deeply poignant story about a boy sorting out his priorities.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A vivid, memorable portrayal of a boy within his family, his sport, and his gradually broadening world.” —Booklist (starred review) From Newbery Medalist Cynthia Kadohata comes a brilliantly-realized novel about a hockey player who must discover who he is without the sport that defines him. Hockey is Conor’s life. His whole life. He’ll say it himself, he’s a hockey beast. It’s his dad’s whole life too—and Conor is sure that’s why his stepmom, Jenny, left. There are very few things Conor and his dad love more than the game, and one of those things is their Doberman, Sinbad. When Sinbad is diagnosed with cancer, Conor chooses to put his hockey lessons and practices on hold so they can pay for Sinbad’s chemotherapy. But without hockey to distract him, Conor begins to notice more. Like his dad’s crying bouts, and his friend’s difficult family life. And then Conor notices one more thing: Without hockey, the one thing that makes him feel special, is he really special at all?

A teen boy thinks his vaping habit is harmless until it becomes a crippling addiction of nightmarish dimensions in this searing young adult novel from Newbery and National Book Award winner Cynthia Kadohata. So, stuff has, like, a beginning and an end. And you don’t really realize that until the end, or right before. Before that, you’re just thinking that you and your homies are chillin’ and getting high, and it’s all gonna work out. You know? Truth is, the way life works is that you were born in the eye of a hurricane, and you think that’s just the way life is, calm-like. Until…it isn’t. So, yeah, Elijah is only sixteen, and already he would change a lot of stuff if he could go back in time. But you can’t ever do that. And when you can’t, that’s when you find out who you really are.

Mariska could not be happier. Living an almost fairy‐tale life, she is popular, adored by her parents, and is engaged to be married to the most attractive man in her village. But her world is torn when war approaches the peaceful village of Bakshami. Mariska risks everything she has in order to search for her parents who left to negotiate and find peace. With a young warrior as her companion, she travels beyond the safety of her village. Together they search for Mariska’s parents and peace for their village in a time of terrible uncertainty.

Ever since Tin can remember he''s wanted to be an elephant trainer. At twelve years old, he''s the youngest - and in his eyes the best - elephant handler in his village. Tin can think of nothing he''d rather do that spend all day with his elephant, Lady, looking after her and playing together. But Tin''s peaceful, idyllic life is changed dramatically when the Viet Cong attack his village and he finds himself held hostage by the terrifying soldiers who don''t care if he lives or dies. Can Tin find the courage to escape from his captors and save not only his own life, but his precious elephants too?

Chinese translation of Cynthia Kadohata''s "Kira-Kira," the 2005 Newbery Medal Winner. Distributed by Tsai Fong Books, Inc.

Selalu Ada Kesempatan The Thing about Luck “Kouun” artinya “keberuntungan”dalam bahasa Jepang. Suatu tahun, keluargaku sama sekali tidak mengalaminya. Ketika Summer mengira tak mungkin masalahnya bertambah lagi, tiba-tiba orangtuanya harus terbang ke Jepang karena urusan darurat––persis sebelum musim panen. Summer dan adiknya dititipkan pada Obaachan dan Jiichan---Nenek dan Kakek. Obaachan dan Jiichan kuno dan cerewet. Gadis itu harus membantu Obaachan memasak, menggantikan ketika sakit punggung sang nenek kumat, dan harus mencemaskan adik laki-lakinya––yang seolah tidak punya teman. Lalu, salah satu teman cowok mulai memperhatikan Summer. Awalnya gadis itu senang. Tapi, lama-lama keadaan kacau dan Summer, lagi-lagi, mengecewakan Obaachan. Sebentar lagi kooun pasti datang, pikir Summer. Namun, ketika keadaan makin buruk, ia harus memutar otak. Meski itu berarti ia harus bikin Obaachan makin kesal. Karena sumber penghidupan keluarganya harus diselamatkan.

Summer sabe que kouun significa "boa sorte" em japonês, o que tem faltado a sua família. Para piorar, seus pais precisam viajar para ajudar um parente doente, deixando a menina de 12 anos e seu irmão menor aos cuidados de seus avós aposentados, que vão precisar voltar ao trabalho pesado na colheita de trigo para ajudar nas finanças da casa. Um livro bem-humorado que explora as diferenças culturais e de geração, a fragilidade da vida e os complexos laços familiares.

After twelve-year-old Sumiko and her Japanese-American family are relocated from their flower farm in southern California to an internment camp on a Mojave Indian reservation in Arizona, she helps her family and neighbors, becomes friends with a local Indian boy, and tries to hold on to her dream of owning a flower shop.