Himawari House

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Himawari House

Title :

Himawari House / Harmony Becker.

Title:

Himawari House

Author:

Becker, Harmony

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

374 pages : chiefly illustrations ; 23 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

ISBN:

9781250235565

9781250235572

Production / Publication Information:

New York, NY : First Second, 2021.

Summary:

"When Nao returns to Tokyo to reconnect with her Japanese heritage, she books a yearlong stay at the Himawari sharehouse. There she meets Hyejung and Tina, two other girls who came to Japan to freely forge their own paths. The trio live together, share meals, and even attend the same Japanese-language school, which results in them becoming fast friends. But will they be able to hold one another up as life tests them with new loves, old heart breaks, and the everyday challenges of being fish out of water?"--Provided by publisher.

Language:

English

Language note:

In English with some Japanese.

Genre:

Comics (Graphic works)

Graphic novels.

Geographic Term:

Tokyo (Japan) -- Comic books, strips, etc. -- Juvenile fiction.

Subject Term:

Japanese Americans -- Comic books, strips, etc. -- Juvenile fiction.

Young women -- Comic books, strips, etc. -- Juvenile fiction.

Friendship -- Comic books, strips, etc. -- Juvenile fiction.

Shared housing -- Japan -- Tokyo -- Comic books, strips, etc. -- Juvenile fiction.

Student exchange programs -- Comic books, strips, etc. -- Juvenile fiction.

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	TEEN GRAPHIC BECKER	31330009108436	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Amesbury Public Library	YA GRAPHIC NOVEL HIMAWARI	32114002660638	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Billerica Public Library	YA GRAPHIC/BECKER	33934004538766	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Burlington Public Library	YA BECKER GRAPHIC	32116003843758	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Carlisle - Gleason Public Library	TEEN GRAPHIC BECKER	32117002189060	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Chelmsford Public Library	Y/GRAPHIC/HIMAWARI	31480011535694	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Dracut - Moses Greeley Parker Memorial Library	YA/GRAPHIC/BECKER	31482002998113	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Georgetown Peabody Library	YGN BECKER	32120001365731	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Groton Public Library	YA GF BECKER	37003701646961	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Groveland - Langley-Adams Library	YA COMIX BECKER	32121000895447	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Hamilton-Wenham Public Library	Y GRAPHIC BEC	30470001943355	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Ipswich Public Library	YA GN BECKER	32122002880023	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Lawrence Public Library	FIC BEC YA GRAPHIC NOVEL	31549004905351	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Littleton - Reuben Hoar Library	YA GN F BECKER	39965002382108	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Lowell - Pollard Memorial Library	YA GRAPHIC NOVEL BECKER	31481005616607	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Methuen - Nevins Memorial Library	YA GRAPHIC BEC	31548003383347	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Middleton - Flint Public Library	Y GN BECKER	32126001904775	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Newbury Town Library	YA BEC GN	32127001298812	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Newburyport Public Library	YA GRAPHIC BECKER	32128004061959	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... North Andover - Stevens Memorial Library	TEEN GRAPHIC BECKER	31478010187137	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Rockport Public Library	YA GRAPHIC BECKER	32129002477353	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Rowley Public Library	YA GN BEC	32130001008058	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Tewksbury Public Library	TEEN GRAPHIC HIMAWARI	32132003288142	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Tewksbury Public Library	TEEN GRAPHIC HIMAWARI	32132005204055	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Topsfield Town Library	YA GN/BECKER	32133002604727	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Tyngsborough Public Library	YA/GRAPHIC/BECKE/PB	32137002171132	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... West Newbury - G.A.R. Memorial Library	YA GN-GN BEC	32135001543020	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Westford - J.V. Fletcher Library	YA F BECKER (GRAPHIC)	31990005050591	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Wilmington Memorial Library	TEEN GRAPHIC BECKER	32136003509654	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Winner of the 2023 Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Fiction Literature
Winner of the 2022 Kirkus Prize for Young Readers' Literature
A 2021 Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year
A 2021 School Library Best Books of the Year

A young adult graphic novel about three foreign exchange students and the pleasures, and difficulties, of adjusting to living in Japan.

Living in a new country is no walk in the park--Nao, Hyejung, and Tina can all attest to that. The three of them became fast friends through living together in the Himawari House in Tokyo and attending the same Japanese cram school. Nao came to Japan to reconnect with her Japanese heritage, while Hyejung and Tina came to find freedom and their own paths. Though each of them has her own motivations and challenges, they all deal with language barriers, being a fish out of water, self discovery, love, and family.

Reviews (5)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 9 Up--Living in a foreign country is an immersive and often rewarding experience, but grappling with a new language can also be a struggle to keep one's head above water. Becker, who illustrated George Takei's They Called Us Enemy, pinpoints this sense of discovery and disorientation in her debut graphic novel. Nao, a Japanese American teenager, arrives in Tokyo for a gap year and quickly befriends her roommates--bouncy Tina, who is Chinese Singaporean, and homesick Hyejung, who is Korean--and interacts with two male Japanese roommates, Shinichi and Masaki. Together, the fast friends experience touchstones of Japanese life--combini, izakaya, obaachans, cherry blossoms, and matsuri. But this is largely stage-setting for Becker's focus on language learning in context; speech bubbles written as subtitled Japanese become more complex as Nao's comprehension improves. There are countless intersecting modes of communication even within Nao's social circle: Tina's Singlish, Hyejung's thickly accented English, their paths to Japanese acquisition, and surly Masaki's fluent written but poorly spoken English. The ability to define oneself depends on the ability to communicate that self to others, and our heroes tackle language barriers head-on to articulate their identities in an exhausting, exhilarating year in Japan. Becker's art references manga and Japanese urban aesthetics playfully but not obsessively, reinforcing the book's themes of immersion and self-definition. VERDICT This lighthearted yet serious-minded journey of discovery will delight, educate, and challenge teens interested in language and cultural exploration.--Emilia Packard, Tokyo

Publisher's Weekly Review

Recent high school graduate Nao, 19, who is half-Japanese, Japan-born, and Midwest-raised, decides to spend a gap year at Tokyo-based sharehouse Himawari House to reconnect with her roots. Soon, Nao meets her housemates: Hyejung, a studious college-age Korean woman; Tina, a buoyant 25-year-old Chinese Singaporean; and two Japanese brothers, personable, bespectacled Shinichi and standoffish, curly-haired Masaki. As Nao reassimilates, she is relieved to discover that Hyejung and Tina speak English (Tina's Singlish is "like English but deluxe flavor"). The process of language learning, the way language can define identity, and multilingual experiences are lovingly illuminated in mostly translated Japanese, Korean, and English, with smudges denoting words lost in translation; characters' accents are respectfully rendered phonetically. Those familiar with Asian culture will recognize how richly the narrative is steeped, including manga and manhwa onomatopoeia, nods to food, Asian pop culture, the konbini franchise Lawson, and more. Those unfamiliar will appreciate the fluid, expressive cast, rendered in playfully shifting manga styles, and the intricately sketched scenery. In this stunningly layered graphic novel debut, Becker crafts a warmly actualized world in which the multiplicities of diasporic Asian identity are examined and held close. Back matter includes an author's note about accents. Ages 14--up. (Nov.)

Horn Book Review

In this expertly crafted graphic novel, recent high school grad Nao, born in Japan and raised in the American Midwest, spends a gap year in Tokyo. "Only half" Japanese and lacking language fluency, she struggles to fit in. Nao's housemates include two other non-natives, Korean Hyejung and Chinese Singaporean Tina; they tell Nao they simply want to experience life abroad but both hide complicated backstories, revealed in sections related from their points of view. Frequent use of manga art styles adds depth and detail to the story of Nao's roller-coaster year. Becker (illustrator of Takei's They Called Us Enemy, rev. 9/19) smartly uses speech balloons to re-create the feeling of being a language learner, showing, for example, only Japanese characters when Nao can't understand a word of rapid-fire Japanese but providing both Japanese characters and English translation when she does understand, with blurry lines standing in for the words she isn't getting. Dialogue balloons have characters speaking accented English with their pronunciations written out phonetically; in an endnote, Becker says, "Our accents are not a point of shame but a point of pride, because after all, what is an accent but proof of the ability to speak more than one language?" Hilarious and tender situations abound as this insightful graphic novel explores, among other topics, how language can either separate or bring people together. Jennifer M. Brabander January/February 2022 p.107(c) Copyright 2022. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Review

A shared house in Tokyo brings five young people together. After moving to the U.S. as a child with her Japanese mother and White American father, Nao has returned to Japan for a gap year before college to explore the language and cultural heritage that she deliberately shed--at great emotional cost--in an effort to assimilate. She moves into Himawari House, which she shares with Korean Hyejung and Chinese Singaporean Tina, girls who are attending the same Japanese language institute as Nao. Also resident are two Japanese brothers, outgoing, friendly Shinichi and taciturn, broodingly handsome Masaki. Blending English, Japanese, Korean, and Singlish, the group bonds over meals, excursions, K-dramas, and never-ending conversations about life, love, and family. Becker perfectly captures the heady roller coaster of feelings that accompanies cross-cultural immersion, with ordinary activities serving as barometers of successful adaptation in a new country. The personal stakes of each encounter with Japanese life are even higher for Nao, throwing into relief her internal struggles over her identity. Nao is the focal point, but Hyejung and Tina are well developed, with complex, heartstring-tugging backstories. Most of the text is bilingual, but the occasional use of Japanese or Korean alone effectively mirrors the dislocation of language learners. The predominantly photorealistic art is enhanced with a range of stylized techniques that masterfully communicate emotion. Altogether, this work exemplifies what the graphic novel format can achieve. An unforgettable story of personal growth in an exquisitely rendered setting. (note on accents) (Graphic fiction. 13-adult) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Becker, who brilliantly created the artwork for George Takei's Eisner-winning They Called Us Enemy (2019), makes her stupendous solo debut in what will prove to one of the best graphic titles of the year. The narrative might initially seem simple: a mixed-race U.S. teen takes a gap year in Japan to reconnect with her heritage. To tell the story, Becker showcases her impressive polyglot facility, combining English, Japanese, Korean, and Singlish (including rewarding winks to fellow polyglot readers). To show the story, Becker's exquisitely expressive black-and-white illustrations enable and encourage empathic responses to induce guffaws, sobs, and everything in between. Born in Japan to a Japanese mother and a white American father, Nao moves Stateside where "people were always quick to point out that I was different." Nao "adapted" by abandoning her first language and culture. Choosing to return to Japan between high school and college, Nao arrives at Himawari House, a student group home, where she quickly bonds with Hyejung and Tina, also studying Japanese. Hyejung is Korean, estranged from her parents, and hoping to enter art college. Tina, from Singapore, is currently taking a term off while waitressing. Brothers Shinichi and Masaki will prove integral coresidents, as well. As relationships become opportunities for deeper communication, Becker's text bubbles ingeniously become indicators of better understanding. Audiences can expect absolute delight.