Orchards

Thompson, Holly. 2011. ORCHARDS. New York: Random House. ISBN 9780385739771 [Suggested Grade Levels 7-12]

REVIEW

In the wake of a classmate’s suicide, Kana is sent to her mother’s childhood home, a small village in Japan, to reflect, visit with her family, and work in the same orchards her mother did so many years ago.

The story unfolds as Kana addresses each chapter to the dead girl, Ruth. The writing is intimate and intertwined as Kana’s feelings of isolation and guilt mix with the day to day issues of a young girl, such as cultural identity and body image. Half Russian Jew and half Japanese, Kana expresses her fears of belonging when upon her arrival in Japan she is greeted by her cousins who are “two skinny legs below a hipless bottom” and then later while trying to learn her Japanese family’s routine:

I try to help

but my ears

aren’t used

to Baachan’s words

Aunt and Uncle and Koichi’s

words

so much Japanese

so fast and constant

not

the half-and-half mix

of English

and Japanese

I hear from my family

or the Japlish I share

with Emi

in New York

ORCHARDS effectively uses setting to place Kana in a land where she is the outsider. She feels she doesn’t fit in physically, linguistically or culturally and reflects on her loss of place in the world. For Kana this takes place in Japan, for Ruth, this was her middle school experience at home.

CONNECTIONS

Use Kana’s letter writing technique as a writers’ prompt. What would you say/write to someone if you knew they would never read it?

RELATED BOOKS

Other novels in verse with strong female narratives:

Atkins, Jeannine. BORROWED NAMES. ISBN 9780805089349

Engle, Margarita. FIREFLY LETTERS. ISBN 9780805090826

By Marianne Follis