Author Cynthia Kadohata has won the 2013 National Book Award for Young People's Literature for hew novel The Thing About Luck, an engagingly-written story of a girl wrestling with her family's streak of bad luck. Kadohata bested four other finalists for the award, which was announced last night in New York City:
The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata, 2013 National Book Award Winner, Young People's Literature
In 2005, Kadohata won the prestigious Newbery Medal -- given annually by the American Library Association to the best-written children's book -- for Kira-Kira. It wasn't a popular choice among librarians, including me, and so I wasn't necessarily inclined to like The Thing About Luck. But Kadohata pulled me in from the first page with her story of a girl named Summer who is on the cusp of her teenage years. Summer's parents were called back to Japan for an emergency and so she and her brother must journey around the Midwest with their grandparents as they try to keep the family financially afloat by working as combine drivers harvesting wheat. All of Kadohata's characters in this book are appealing, particularly Summer and her old-style Japanese grandparents, Obaachan and Jiichan. The Thing About Luck is a great read for kids ages 8-12.
We also have, or will soon have, copies of the four other finalists: The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp (ages 8-12) by Kathi Appelt; Far Far Away (ages 12 up) by Tom McNeal; Picture Me Gone (ages 12 up) by Meg Rosoff; and Boxers & Saints (ages 12 up) by Gene Luen Yang.
Posted by karen at November 21, 2013 11:35 AM