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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