Orchards

Orchards by Holly Thompson. Published by Delacorte Press, 2011.

Missed signs of a classmate’s mental anguish. 8^th grade girls labeled as mean. A loss that is forever.

Half-Japanese, half-Jewish American Kana is being sent to Japan after the suicide of a classmate. Although she is bilingual and has met her mother’s family on previous visits, she is unhappy about this sudden plan. She doesn’t want to live with people she barely knows while attending a nearby public school during her summer vacation. Working in the family’s mikan orange orchards will fill any of Kana’s spare time.

Her family isn’t trying to punish her. But she is cut off from her friends, computers and TV. She isn’t even supposed to have her iPod (but she does). The new school is okay but she doesn’t really fit in there and doesn’t make any new friends. Her mother’s family is constantly correcting her manners and posture.

Kana finds the work in the orchards challenging. It is hot and physically demanding but she finds it a good distraction from thinking too much. She has more in common with her family than she expected and is developing good relationships with them. She gains insights about her mother and her grandfather. She knows the high emotional cost of her mother’s decision to leave Japan and move to the United States. Kana also learns about her classmates, her family and herself. Just like her family before her, she loves the rhythm of life working amidst the mikan orchards.

This realistic fiction is recommended for grades 7 and up. 


Visit author Holly Thompson's website