How Do You Live? by Genzaburō Yoshino, translated from the Japanese by Bruno Navasky

How Do You Live? by Genzaburō Yoshino,

translated by Bruno Navasky

Algonquin Young Readers, 1937, 2021, 288 pages

How Do You Live? may be the most unusual coming-of-age story I've ever read. It was originally written in Japan in 1937, which, you may remember, was the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. This war is never mentioned, and yet, the book very philosophically explores the question: how do you live your life in order to make it your best life?

Readers are introduced to 15-year-old Honda Jun'ichi, nicknamed Copper. His father has passed away and he lives with his mother in Tokyo, not far from an uncle who has taken Copper under his wing. Copper often visits his uncle in the evenings to play chess and indulge in some very philosophical discussions, which are then followed up with some thoughts written by his uncle about what they had talked about on a particular evening. The story, then, unfolds in alternating voices - on the one hand, the events and experiences in Copper's home and school life are told in the third person, on the other, there are the thoughts his uncles writes down for Copper on the first person.

Copper got his nickname after a long discussion with his uncle about Copernicus and this theory that the earth revolves around the sun which is at the center of the universe rather than the previously long help belief that the sun moves around the earth and that earth was the center of the universe. It doesn't take a philosophy degree to see that Uncle is telling Copper that he is one human among many. 

At school, Copper has two friends in his class, Mizutani, whom he has known since elementary school, and Kitami whom he has met in junior high school. There is also another boy in their class, Uragawa, a poorer student who, because his grades are low and he always smells like the fried tofu his parents sell, is nicknamed Fried Tofu and subject to many cruel pranks. 

When Uragawa is absent from school for a number of days, Copper takes it upon himself to visit him and see what's wrong and when he will return to school. Seeing what his family life is like, and Uragawa cleverness at making the fried tofu causes Copper to see him in a different light. He begins to help him with his homework and Uragawa's grades really improve. Pretty soon, Mizutani and Kitami come around and begin to include Uragawa in their group.

When some seniors at school set their sights on Katami, Copper, Mizutani, and Uragawa promise to stand with him if they threaten to beat him up. But when the time comes for this courageous act to happen, Copper finds that he can't move and join his friends in defending Katami. Crestfallen by his lack of action and loyalty, Copper becomes ill. Can he ever face his friends again? Or will he be shunned by them for his cowardice? 

In the end of Copper's ordeal, he has learned much about himself and about human nature, including how he wishes to live his life, while at the same time, realizing there is still much more to learn.

How Do You Live? in a very interesting school story and I would love to know what motivated the author to write it. I have to admit that, even though I was a philosophy major, I found myself more interested in Copper's story than in his uncle's treatises on life. And yet, the two parts make a very complex whole, supporting each other to make it all understandable for their teenage audience. Copper's story, written in 1937, is still relevant in 2021 because he goes through the same growing pains most younger teenagers experience. 

I believe the translation is faithful to the original Japanese and I felt author and translator had captured the themes of friendship, loyalty, betrayal, and shame in such a way that readers will ask themselves the same questions the Copper was forced to ask himself. There is a forward by Neil Gaiman, who was interested in it because he knew it was a favorite book of filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) and whose next film will be based on this book. 

How Do You Live? may not be a book for everyone, but for those who do read it, it is a very satisfying coming-of-age story from another era. 

This book is recommended for readers age 13+

This book was gratefully received from Amanda Dissinger at Algonquin Books

Encore: The Last Cherry Blossom by Kathleen Burkinshaw

This was originally posted on my other blog, The Children's War, but I thought I would share it here as well.  Sometimes a book is just too important not to post on both blogs.  The Last Cherry Blossom is a powerful story about one young girl before, during and after the bomb was dropped in Hiroshima. 

August 6, 2016 marks the 71st anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, followed by the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9th.  And by now, most readers are familiar with the story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr.  Sadako's compelling story focuses on her illness 9 years after being exposed to the deadly radiation that resulted in the aftermath of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. However, we don't really learn much about what Japan was like during the war, before the atomic bomb destroyed two cities and some many lives.  Until now.

The Last Cherry Blossom is the fictionalized story based on the experiences of the author's mother living in Hiroshima as a child during the war. 

Despite the fact that Japan has been at war with the United States since the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, life hasn't been too difficult for 12-year-old Yuriko Ishikawa, affectionately called Joya by her beloved papa.  She is proud of her samurai heritage, and loves to hear papa tell stories about it.  But, when her teacher tells her that she has made a mistake on her koseki or family tree project, Yuriko becomes quite upset, asking papa what she meant.  Instead of an answer, he has the teacher fired.  But why?

Despite that, living on the outskirts of Hiroshima, with papa, owner of a newspaper, and her annoying Aunt Kimiko and five-year-old cousin Genji, the family hasn't suffered many of the usual hardships of war - rationing and making do just don't seem to be in evidence.  Of course, there are air raids, American planes flying overhead, and Yuriko, her best friend Machiko, in fact, all school children are expected to learn how to fight using a bamboo spear, if necessary.  But when Yuriko's papa and Aunt Kimiko both decide to get remarried at the same time, there is still silk to buy for new kimonos.

Yuriko has always cherished the time she spends alone with her papa, and wonders if her new stepmother, Sumiyo-san, now living in the family home, along with Akira-san, Aunt Kimiko's new husband, will understand that.  Happily, Sumiyo-san turns out to be a loving, kind stepmother who understands.  But when the mother of her fired teacher tells her that a man named Nishimoto-san would love to see her, she opens a Pandora's box of family secrets that turns Yuriko's world up-side-down and it is up to Aunt Kimiko to explain things.

Yuriko barely has time to digest what Aunt Kimiko tells her, than the war begins to hit closer to home.  First Tokyo is badly bombed, and, a few months later, an atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, changing Yuriko's life forever. 

The Last Cherry Blossom is author Kathleen Burkinshaw's debut novel, and I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to write her mother's story and yet, how necessary.  Perhaps having listened to her mother's memories of Japan during WWII and of her survival after the bomb was dropped while growing up is what made this such a realistic narrative.  Told in the first person by Yuriko, the reader is pulled into the story right from the start.

The Last Cherry Blossom is a shattering story, and part of what makes it so devastating is the detailed descriptions of daily life and favorite special occasions that Yuriko lovingly provides when all the while the reader knows what was coming.  I did like reading about the happy times, so filled with Japanese culture, such as how Yuriko's family celebrated the weddings, as well as Oshagatsu (New Year's Celebration) and Sakura Hanami (the Cherry Blossom Festival) and other festivals, though the chohei pati, the celebration party families have when a son is sent to war, is definitely not a happy occasion.  It is supposed to be an honor to fight for Japan, but in reality, no one feels very honored. 

(Burkinshaw does use lots of Japanese words throughout the novel, giving this a real feeling of authenticity, and there is an extensive Glossary in the back matter to help readers.)

In fact, the chohei pati points to the ways in which propaganda is used during war by all countries. At the beginning of each chapter, there are quotes from radio addresses, newspapers and propaganda posters about how well Imperial Japan is doing in the war or what is expected of civilians at home, most of which is incorrect, but people are expected to simple believe what they are told.

The Last Cherry Blossom is a story of unfathomable loss, but also of hope, resilience, and survival. Paired with Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, both these stories should stand as a cautionary tale about war and the use of what we would now call weapons of mass destruction, and never forget that, as Burkinshaw reminds us in her Afterword, "the victims were all someone's mother, father, brother, sister, or child."  It was true then, and is still true today.

This book is recommended for readers age 11+
This book was an EARC received from Edelweiss/Above the Treeline

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday is a weekly event hosted by Shannon Messenger at Book Ramblings, and Plenty of Shenanigans

The Night Parade by Kathryn Tanquary

The worst thing that could happen to Saki Yamamoto, 13, is having to spend three days at her grandmother's remote house.  It is the festival of Obon when families return to their homes, visit and clean the graves of their ancestors, and leave offerings so that their spirits may return and visit their relatives for one night.

But all Saki wants is to be in Tokyo with her friends, instead of no where with no cell service to keep in touch with them.  On her first evening, Saki, her parents, brother and grandmother head into the town to watch fireworks.  When Saki manages to sneak away, and head to the only convenience store, she meets four locals who tell her to take them to the graveyard, and then dare her to ring the sacred bell.

What Saki doesn't know is that ring the sacred bell invoked a death curse.  Later that night, Saki is awakened by a spirit fox with four tails, who tells her he is there to help her on her quest and that she must now join the Night Parade, for which they are already late.  The Night Parade is the biggest celebration in the spirit world, a time when they pare homage at the shrine on the mountaintop and lasting three nights.  Now, Saki must visit the shrine in order to break the curse.

But things don't go well for Saki the first night of the Night Parade with the fox, who turns out to be quite a trickster, yet in the morning, she finds herself somehow returned to her bed in her grandmother's house.  There are two more nights left of the Night Parade, and each night Saki finds herself with a different spirit guide (besides the fox, there is a tanuki and a tengu).   But the closer she gets to the shrink on the mountain, the more difficult things become, and Saki is running out of time.  Will she actually manage to get the death curse lifted before it is time to go back to Tokyo?

No one was more surprised than I was about this book.  I really didn't like it at first, thinking I've read so many characters like Saki lately, and as well as her cliché video-playing obsessed brother, the bullies, and the busy almost neglectful parents.  Only the grandmother and another girl Saki's age Maeda stood out (and I kept wondering if the grandmother knows something about the Night Parade).  But it didn't take long to see that this was not going in the usual direction.

Tanquary, who lives in Japan and teaches English there (a kindred soul to my own Kiddo who taught English in China), has cleverly taken Japanese tradition, culture and folklore, mixed it into the life of a contemporary girl and produced a wonderful work of speculative fiction.  I had fun reading The Night Parade and only wished for another night or two.

The good part is that you don't need to know anything about Japanese ctradition, ulture or folklore to appreciate this novel.  What you need to know is there, and while there is a night parade in Japanese folklore, the Hyakki Yagyō (night parade of 100 demons), the one in this novel is only loosely based on it.

One of the things I always look for in a middle grade novel is whether the main character grows, and over the course of The Night Parade, I saw Saki go from a shallow, self-centered, follower just wanting people to see her as "cool" to a caring, thoughtful girl who no longer cares what people think of her because of her adventures in the spirit world.  While Saki might be in a spirit world, there is no magic, and she must meet the challenges presented to her despite the tricksters and other obstacles using her intelligence and reasoning power.  I always like to see that in a character.

The Night Parade is a fun, imaginative novel, not for everyone, but if you like your speculative fiction a little different than the usual, this is for you.

The publisher, Sourcebooks has provided a very useful Educator's Guide to download.

And they have also provided fun Activity Kit for your own Night Parade event.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley