{"id":4664,"date":"2005-02-18T13:07:11","date_gmt":"2005-02-18T17:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookdragon.si.edu\/?p=4664"},"modified":"2015-08-17T10:56:01","modified_gmt":"2015-08-17T14:56:01","slug":"kira-kira-by-cynthia-kadohata-author-interview-in-asianweek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/kira-kira-by-cynthia-kadohata-author-interview-in-asianweek\/","title":{"rendered":"Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata + Author Interview [in AsianWeek]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kira-Kira\"<\/a>The Best Wake-up Call of All<\/strong><\/p>\n

Calls coming in at 4:26 a.m. don\u2019t usually make most people just jump up and down and scream for joy. But Cynthia Kadohata<\/a>, still half-asleep in her Los Angeles home, had the best shock of her life on Jan. 17, when she heard that she had won the coveted 2005 John Newbery Medal. In layman\u2019s terms, that\u2019s the absolute highest honor for children\u2019s literature.<\/p>\n

Amazingly, Kira-Kira<\/em> is Kadohata\u2019s first foray into the children\u2019s literary market. After three adult titles \u2013\u00a0most notably the lyrical, critically acclaimed The Floating World<\/em> \u2013\u00a0Kadohata was nudged into children\u2019s literature by her editor, who also happens to be her graduate school roommate. \u201cShe had been trying to get me to write a children\u2019s book for a while, because she said she had a strong feeling that it would turn out well,\u201d Kadohata says. \u201cThen several years ago, I was newly divorced, kind of sad, and very broke, and I was really open to trying a new direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result, Kira-Kira<\/em>, refers to a Japanese phrase that means \u201cglittering, shining.\u201d And for the book\u2019s not-yet-12-year-old Katie Takeshima, it is her older sister, Lynn, who helps her see the magic of their lives as they face the harshness of growing up in 1950s small-town Georgia. When Lynn falls mysteriously ill, Katie must learn to find all that is shining and good in her life, both for herself and those around her.<\/p>\n

AsianWeek<\/em><\/strong>: So what did you do when you got the news?
\n Cynthia Kadohata<\/strong>: I felt total shock and incredible joy. My editor somehow already knew, and she called within two minutes of my hanging up. We screamed and jumped for joy together. Then she told me I had to get on a plane right away to be on the Today <\/em>show the next morning. I said, \u2018No way, I have to get my hair cut, I have to get winter shoes!\u2019 At the airport, (my boyfriend) George and I went to the wrong line, and we missed the flight. We finally ended up in the hotel room at 2 a.m., with a car coming at 8 in the morning to do the show.<\/p>\n

AW<\/strong><\/em>: And how was the Today<\/em> show?
\n CK<\/strong>: The Today <\/em>show was fun. I giggled too much and had too much makeup on and couldn\u2019t think of anything to say. New York was cold. I was wearing new shoes, and New Yorkers walk everywhere, and I felt like I was having some kind of Arctic adventure with really sore feet. …[click here for more<\/a>]\n

Author interview<\/strong>: “The Best Wake-up Call of All,” <\/a>AsianWeek<\/a><\/em>, February 18, 2005<\/a><\/p>\n

Tidbit<\/strong>: Soon after she won the esteemed\u00a0Newbery Medal<\/a> for\u00a0Kira-Kira<\/em> in 2005,\u00a0Cynthia Kadohata<\/a>\u00a0was a delightful guest at her very own public program, “The Twinkling, Sparkling Writing Life: 2005 Newbery Award Winner Cynthia Kadohata<\/a>,” at the\u00a0National Museum of American History<\/a> hosted by the\u00a0Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program<\/a> on April 10, 2005.<\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Middle Grade, Young Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2004<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"kira-kira\"The Best Wake-up Call of All<\/strong><\/p>\n

Calls coming in at 4:26 a.m. don\u2019t usually make most people just jump up and down and scream for joy. But Cynthia Kadohata, still half-asleep in her Los Angeles home, had the best shock of her life on Jan. 17, when she heard that she had won the coveted 2005 John Newbery Medal. In layman\u2019s terms, that\u2019s the absolute highest honor for children\u2019s literature.<\/p>\n

Amazingly, Kira-Kira is Kadohata\u2019s first foray into the children\u2019s literary market. After three adult titles \u2013 most notably the lyrical, critically acclaimed The Floating World<\/em> \u2013 Kadohata was nudged into children\u2019s literature by her editor, who also happens to be her graduate school roommate. \u201cShe had been trying to get me to write a children\u2019s book for a while, because she said she had a strong feeling that it would turn out well,\u201d Kadohata says. \u201cThen several years ago, I was newly divorced, kind of sad, and very broke, and I was really open to trying a new direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result, Kira-Kira<\/em>, refers to a Japanese phrase that means \u201cglittering, shining.\u201d And for the book\u2019s not-yet-12-year-old Katie Takeshima, it is her older sister, Lynn, who helps her see the magic of their lives as they face the harshness of growing up in 1950s small-town Georgia. When Lynn falls mysteriously ill, Katie must learn to find all that is shining and good in her life, both for herself and those around her.<\/p>\n

AsianWeek<\/em><\/strong>: So what did you do when you got the news?
\n Cynthia Kadohata<\/strong>: I felt total shock and incredible joy. My editor somehow already knew, and she called within two minutes of my hanging up. We screamed and jumped for joy together. Then she told me I had to get on a plane right away to be on the Today <\/em>show the next morning. I said, \u2018No way, I have to get my hair cut, I have to get winter shoes!\u2019 At the airport, (my boyfriend) George and I went to the wrong line, and we missed the flight. We finally ended up in the hotel room at 2 a.m., with a car coming at 8 in the morning to do the show.<\/p>\n

AW<\/strong><\/em>: And how was the Today<\/em> show?
\n CK<\/strong>: The Today <\/em>show was fun. I giggled too much and had too much makeup on and couldn\u2019t think of anything to say. New York was cold. I was wearing new shoes, and New Yorkers walk everywhere, and I felt like I was having some kind of Arctic adventure with really sore feet. …[click here for more<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Author interview<\/strong>: “The Best Wake-up Call of All,” <\/a>AsianWeek<\/a><\/em>, February 18, 2005<\/a><\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Middle Grade, Young Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2004<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,426,30,6535,31],"tags":[3598,6608,2804,10,11,51,720,3595,39,29,44],"class_list":["post-4664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-author-interview-profile","category-fiction","category-japanese-american","category-middle-grade-readers","category-repost","category-young-adult-readers","tag-asianweek","tag-bookdragon","tag-cynthia-kadohata","tag-family","tag-friendship","tag-identity","tag-japanese-american-imprisonment-during-wwii","tag-kira-kira","tag-parent-child-relationship","tag-race-racism","tag-siblings"],"yoast_head":"\nKira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata + Author Interview [in AsianWeek] - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/kira-kira-by-cynthia-kadohata-author-interview-in-asianweek\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata + Author Interview [in AsianWeek] - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Best Wake-up Call of All Calls coming in at 4:26 a.m. don\u2019t usually make most people just jump up and down and scream for joy. But Cynthia Kadohata, still half-asleep in her Los Angeles home, had the best shock of her life on Jan. 17, when she heard that she had won the coveted 2005 John Newbery Medal. In layman\u2019s terms, that\u2019s the absolute highest honor for children\u2019s literature. Amazingly, Kira-Kira is Kadohata\u2019s first foray into the children\u2019s literary market. After three adult titles \u2013 most notably the lyrical, critically acclaimed The Floating World \u2013 Kadohata was nudged into children\u2019s literature by her editor, who also happens to be her graduate school roommate. \u201cShe had been trying to get me to write a children\u2019s book for a while, because she said she had a strong feeling that it would turn out well,\u201d Kadohata says. \u201cThen several years ago, I was newly divorced, kind of sad, and very broke, and I was really open to trying a new direction.\u201d The result, Kira-Kira, refers to a Japanese phrase that means \u201cglittering, shining.\u201d And for the book\u2019s not-yet-12-year-old Katie Takeshima, it is her older sister, Lynn, who helps her see the magic of their lives as they face the harshness of growing up in 1950s small-town Georgia. When Lynn falls mysteriously ill, Katie must learn to find all that is shining and good in her life, both for herself and those around her. AsianWeek: So what did you do when you got the news? Cynthia Kadohata: I felt total shock and incredible joy. My editor somehow already knew, and she called within two minutes of my hanging up. We screamed and jumped for joy together. Then she told me I had to get on a plane right away to be on the Today show the next morning. I said, \u2018No way, I have to get my hair cut, I have to get winter shoes!\u2019 At the airport, (my boyfriend) George and I went to the wrong line, and we missed the flight. We finally ended up in the hotel room at 2 a.m., with a car coming at 8 in the morning to do the show. AW: And how was the Today show? CK: The Today show was fun. I giggled too much and had too much makeup on and couldn\u2019t think of anything to say. New York was cold. I was wearing new shoes, and New Yorkers walk everywhere, and I felt like I was having some kind of Arctic adventure with really sore feet. ...[click here for more] Author interview: "The Best Wake-up Call of All," AsianWeek, February 18, 2005 Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult Published: 2004\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/kira-kira-by-cynthia-kadohata-author-interview-in-asianweek\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-02-18T17:07:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-08-17T14:56:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2005\/05\/Kira-Kira.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2304\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SmithsonianAPA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata + Author Interview [in AsianWeek] - BookDragon","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/kira-kira-by-cynthia-kadohata-author-interview-in-asianweek\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata + Author Interview [in AsianWeek] - BookDragon","og_description":"The Best Wake-up Call of All Calls coming in at 4:26 a.m. don\u2019t usually make most people just jump up and down and scream for joy. But Cynthia Kadohata, still half-asleep in her Los Angeles home, had the best shock of her life on Jan. 17, when she heard that she had won the coveted 2005 John Newbery Medal. In layman\u2019s terms, that\u2019s the absolute highest honor for children\u2019s literature. Amazingly, Kira-Kira is Kadohata\u2019s first foray into the children\u2019s literary market. After three adult titles \u2013 most notably the lyrical, critically acclaimed The Floating World \u2013 Kadohata was nudged into children\u2019s literature by her editor, who also happens to be her graduate school roommate. \u201cShe had been trying to get me to write a children\u2019s book for a while, because she said she had a strong feeling that it would turn out well,\u201d Kadohata says. \u201cThen several years ago, I was newly divorced, kind of sad, and very broke, and I was really open to trying a new direction.\u201d The result, Kira-Kira, refers to a Japanese phrase that means \u201cglittering, shining.\u201d And for the book\u2019s not-yet-12-year-old Katie Takeshima, it is her older sister, Lynn, who helps her see the magic of their lives as they face the harshness of growing up in 1950s small-town Georgia. When Lynn falls mysteriously ill, Katie must learn to find all that is shining and good in her life, both for herself and those around her. AsianWeek: So what did you do when you got the news? Cynthia Kadohata: I felt total shock and incredible joy. My editor somehow already knew, and she called within two minutes of my hanging up. We screamed and jumped for joy together. Then she told me I had to get on a plane right away to be on the Today show the next morning. I said, \u2018No way, I have to get my hair cut, I have to get winter shoes!\u2019 At the airport, (my boyfriend) George and I went to the wrong line, and we missed the flight. We finally ended up in the hotel room at 2 a.m., with a car coming at 8 in the morning to do the show. AW: And how was the Today show? CK: The Today show was fun. I giggled too much and had too much makeup on and couldn\u2019t think of anything to say. New York was cold. 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