(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Marianna Raskin. Eleven-and-a-half-year-old Becca, one of a set of quadruplets, discovers an ailing baby pig by the side of the road and brings it home. From this point on, life in her family goes from baseline busy to complete mayhem as Saucy destroys the kitchen cupboards, breaks the fridge, shreds the living-room curtains, uproots the garden, eats everything in sight, and, thriving under Becca's loving care, gets bigger and bigger over the course of a summer. (As the prospect of a six-hundred-pound pet looms, there is really only one solution...the pig sanctuary.) But Becca's experience has given her fresh confidence, which she uses to right a wrong she had done to her best friend and to organize the youth of her town to protest the practices of factory farming. The tale includes classic middle-grade tropes such as kindly, hapless parents with financial challenges; mean girls; a grumpy grandmother with a heart of gold; and a supporting cast of characters each identified by broadly defined qualities (of Becca's three brothers, Jammer is a jock; Bailey, who has cerebral palsy, is sensitive and artistic; and K.C. has a scientific/philosophical mind). This funny, lively story, with scene-setting digital illustrations, also serves as a cautionary tale regarding oh-so-cute pigs as pets.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2021

(1) 4-6 Illustrated by Julia Kuo. Hanako's family, interned during WWII and pressured by the government, renounces the family's American citizenship and returns to Japan after the war. Hanako is horrified at the devastation; however, the unconditional love of her grandparents allows her to adjust to a completely different way of living. Kadohata brings readers tightly into Hanako's psyche as she struggles to comprehend near-impossible situations--and ultimately to recognize the strength of people in the most challenging of circumstances.

Reviewer: Monica Edinger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2019

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Maurizio Zorat. Eleven-year-old Conor MacRae has two passions: ice hockey and his dog, Sinbad, who has been diagnosed with cancer. Sinbad's expensive medical treatment eats into the limited money that also must fund Conor's hockey participation, so Conor earns money by washing cars throughout his Southern California neighborhood. The first-person, present-tense narrative juxtaposes Conor's enthusiastic hockey commentary with tender, character-focused interactions with his cop single father and his dog.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2018

(2) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Jaden, adopted from Romania and suffering from attachment disorder, travels to Kazakhstan with his parents, who have decided to adopt a second child. As his parents struggle to bond with an emotionally unresponsive infant, Jaden bonds with disabled toddler Dimash--a breakthrough for Jaden. This story about a troubled adoptee and the equally troubling issues of international adoption is compelling and involving.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2014

(1) 4-6 Illustrated by Julia Kuo. In this funny, poignant novel, twelve-year-old Summer's parents can't go "on harvest" this year, so Summer’s grandfather, Jiichan, comes out of retirement to drive a combine, while her grandmother, Obaachan, cooks for the work crew (with Summer as her assistant). When a crisis hits, Summer gathers her courage and saves the situation; her exultance makes for an uplifting conclusion.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2013

(3) 4-6 A thirteen-year-old Vietnamese boy aspires to be an elephant handler, but his ambition is thwarted by civil strife following the Vietnam War. He escapes from the North Vietnamese Army and reunites with his family and friends, but not before realizing that war has irrevocably changed his life. Kadohata successfully returns to themes explored in Kira-Kira and Weedflower.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt

(2) YA Set in the early 1980s, Kadohata's novel is narrated by thirteen-year-old Shelby, one of four close-knit sisters who follow their gorgeous but lonely mom from man to man, place to place. When she's critically injured, the girls are sent to live with their fathers; how they survive the split and how Shelby learns about love is a moving story of sisterly bonds.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2008

(2) 4-6 German shepherd Cracker trains with Rick, who's going to Vietnam. Cracker learns to sniff out tripwires, and Rick learns to trust his sometimes rebellious dog. After some simplistic passages from Cracker's point of view, Kadohata digs into Rick's Vietnam experience. Without asking too much of her middle-grade readers, Kadohata creates tension and pathos around the bonds between humans and dogs in wartime.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2007

(2) YA Katie Takeshima's first-person voice is compelling and often quietly humorous as she describes her family's move from Iowa to Georgia and her older sister's subsequent struggle with lymphoma. Katie's shrewd descriptions of people make startlingly vivid this novel that captures both the specific experience of being Japanese American in the 1950s and the wider experience of coping with illness and loss.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2004