Título: A Place to Belong
Autor: Cynthia Kadohata
Sinopse: Five starred reviews!
“Another gift from Kadohata to her readers.” —Booklist (starred review)
A Japanese American family, reeling from their ill treatment in the Japanese imprisonment camps, gives up their American citizenship to move back to Hiroshima, unaware of the devastation wreaked by the atomic bomb in this piercing and all too relevant look at the aftermath of World War II by Newbery Medalist Cynthia Kadohata.
World War II has ended, but while America has won the war, twelve-year-old Hanako feels lost. To her, the world, and her world, seems irrevocably broken.
America, the only home she’s ever known, imprisoned then rejected her and her family—and thousands of other innocent Americans—because of their Japanese heritage, because Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Japan, the country they’ve been forced to move to, the country they hope will be the family’s saving grace, where they were supposed to start new and better lives, is in shambles because America dropped bombs of their own—one on Hiroshima unlike any other in history. And Hanako’s grandparents live in a small village just outside the ravaged city.
The country is starving, the black markets run rampant, and countless orphans beg for food on the streets, but how can Hanako help them when there is not even enough food for her own brother?
Hanako feels she could crack under the pressure, but just because something is broken doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed. Cracks can make room for gold, her grandfather explains when he tells her about the tradition of kintsukuroi—fixing broken objects with gold lacquer, making them stronger and more beautiful than ever. As she struggles to adjust to find her place in a new world, Hanako will find that the gold can come in many forms, and family may be hers.
Contexto da obra
Como livro em inglês, esta obra costuma ganhar também uma camada própria de interesse editorial e linguístico. “A Place to Belong”, de Cynthia Kadohata, publicado pela editora Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, em 2020 e com 432 páginas, integra a categoria Livros em Inglês. Por isso, o interesse da obra tende a se ampliar quando o leitor considera também a relação com a língua em que ela circula.
Editora: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Páginas: 432
Ano: 2020-06-09
Edição: Reprint
Linguagem: en
ISBN: 1481446657
ISBN13: 9781481446655
Sobre a editora
Os livros da editora Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books costumam explorar narrativas que combinam emoção profunda com temas de superação e identidade, muitas vezes focados no universo infantojuvenil. A experiência de leitura é marcada por personagens jovens que enfrentam desafios reais, desde questões familiares complexas até descobertas pessoais, tudo isso em um tom que varia entre o sensível e o inspirador. O catálogo apresenta obras que transitam entre a ficção com elementos fantásticos e histórias mais realistas, com ritmo que pode ser tanto contemplativo quanto tenso, dependendo do conflito central. A linguagem é acessível, porém rica em camadas emocionais, convidando o leitor a refletir sobre temas como coragem, pertencimento e transformação.
