BOOK REVIEW: Poetry: Orchards by Holly Thompson

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY

Thompson, Holly. Orchards. Ill. by Grady McFerrin.  New York: Delacorte Press, 2011. ISBN 038573977X.

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

Fourteen year old half-Japanese, half Jewish American, Kana Goldberg is sent to her mother’s ancestral home in Japan after the suicide of one of her classmates – who Kana and her friends weren’t exactly nice to.  Spending the summer months under the watchful eye of her traditional grandmother working in mikan orange groves wasn’t exactly on her list of great ways to spend a vacation. But, the more she learns about her family and their past, the more she opens up about what happened and begins to grow – when news from home throws her for another loop.  Her family and friends from home help her to realize the best thing she can do to honor the memory of those lost is in how she continues to live.

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS

In short phrases and quiet reflection, Thompson walks the reader through one half-Japanese, half-Jewish American girl’s growth as she deals with being sent to spend the summer with her Japanese relatives in the wake of a suicide of a girl from her class.  Kana’s guilt over being complacent in the girl’s treatment and the adjustment of feeling like an outsider in the midst of her traditional family dance the reader through Japanese tradition and running from emotion, only to have them sneak back around.  The verses flow gently with the simple words.  There is a quiet movement of thought in the lines without the harshness of what she is dealing with breaking the surface - like gentle water meandering around the page.  She is coming to terms in her own time, through reflection and piecing it together rather than forced ideas.  Her internal growth mirror the orchards of mikan oranges she must help her family tend – at first they are small and crowded, and the excess must be trimmed away repeatedly to get to the good fruit that is waiting to grow.  She must even return to the states before seeing the fruit ripen, walking the path toward her final growth once she is home and ready to continue to live in the wake of a second death.  Small ink illustrations of bento boxes, Mt. Fuji, orchards, and mikan trees interspersed throughout the poems and chapters pair with the simplicity of the verses without taking away from the impact of the words.

4.  REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

2012 APALA ASIAN/​PACIFIC AMERICAN AWARD FOR LITERATURE
A YALSA 2012 BEST FICTION FOR YOUNG ADULTS TITLE
A BANK STREET 2012 BEST CHILDREN'S BOOKS OF THE YEAR TITLE
SCBWI 2012 CRYSTAL KITE WINNER
2012-2013 ISINGLASS TEEN READ AWARD NOMINEE
A 2011 LIBRARIANS' CHOICE: POETRY TITLE
SHORTLISTED FOR A RED DOT BOOK AWARD 2011-2012
SHORTLISTED FOR A SAKURA MEDAL AWARD 2012

From PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY – "Eloquently captures a teenager's anger, guilt, and sorrow after a classmate takes her own life.... Understated yet potent verse."

From BOOKLIST -- "Readers will want to talk about the big issues, especially the guilt of doing nothing."

5.  CONNECTIONS

Gather other poetry and verse books about fitting in to read such as:

•     Lai, Thanhha. INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN. ISBN 0061962783

•     Mccall, Guadalupe Garcia. UNDER THE MESQUITE.  ISBN 1600604293.

•     Hopkins, Ellen. IMPULSE. ISBN 1416903569.

Gather other Holly Thompson books to read such as:

•     THE LANGUAGE INSIDE. ISBN 0385739796. 

•     Ills. Kazumi Wilds. THE WAKAME GATHERERS.  ISBN 1885008333.