(3) K-3 Illustrated by Ashley Crowley. Kai describes his feelings about his father's recent death as "waves" that come over him "in no special order": sad waves, mad waves, even sometimes happy waves. When his family joins a group of other bereaved families, Kai learns coping techniques. The naive, childlike mixed-media illustrations express emotional changes through color. A useful book for individualized child-adult sharing. An author's note and resources are appended.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(4) 4-6 The only white kid at his Japanese school, twelve-year-old American Jason is viciously picked on by his classmates. The bullying becomes increasingly violent--and Jason nearly dies. That he decides to stay at his school in order to "make things change for others" veers a little too close to white savior clichés, but Thompson's well-written verse novel is otherwise gripping.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander

(2) YA In this verse novel set just after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Emma, an American raised in Japan, and her family relocate to Massachusetts for her mother's cancer treatment. Emma feels disoriented and lonely in America, where "the language outside / isn't the language inside." Thompson keeps many plot elements cohesive, and the verse's vivid imagery lends immediacy to Emma's turbulent feelings.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2013

(3) YA Illustrated by Grady McFerrin. Half-Japanese, half-Jewish American Kana is sent to live with distant relatives in Japan after classmate and clique-target Ruth's suicide. Learning discipline, patience, and acceptance of herself and her circumstances, Kana begins to blossom like the family's mikan (orange) groves--even after tragedy strikes again. Told in first-person verse addressed to Ruth, Kana's voice deftly progresses from morose to contemplative to hopeful.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen