The Thing about Luck by Cynthia Kadohata

The Thing about Luck

by Cynthia Kadohata

Image Credit: The Thing about Luck at simonandschuster.com

1. Bibliography

Kadohata, Cynthia.  The Thing about Luck. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2013. ISBN 9781442474659

2. Plot Summary

There is bad luck, good luck, and making your own luck—which is exactly what Summer must do to save her family in this winner of the National Book Award by Newbery Medalist Cynthia Kadohata. Summer knows that kouun means “good luck” in Japanese, and this year her family has none of it. Just when she thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong, an emergency whisks her parents away to Japan—right before harvest season. Summer and her little brother, Jaz, are left in the care of their grandparents, who come out of retirement in order to harvest wheat and help pay the bills. The thing about Obaachan and Jiichan is that they are old-fashioned and demanding, and between helping Obaachan cook for the workers, covering for her when her back pain worsens and worrying about her lonely little brother, Summer just barely has time to notice the attention of their boss’s cute son. But notice she does, and what begins as a welcome distraction from the hard work soon turns into a mess of its own. Having thoroughly disappointed her grandmother, Summer figures the bad luck must be finished—but then it gets worse. And when that happens, Summer has to figure out how to change it herself, even if it means further displeasing Obaachan. Because it might be the only way to save her family. Cynthia Kadohata’s ode to the breadbasket of America has received six starred reviews and won the National Book Award.  (Summary Credit: The Thing about Luck at simonandschuster.com)

3. Critical Analysis

Twelve-year-old Summer is the book’s main character, its hero and storyteller. She is of Japanese ancestry, curious about certain aspects of her heritage and identity and somewhat derisive of others. As the story evolves, however, it becomes clear that she is actively and honestly in search for the balance between being who she is as an individual and who she is in relation to her heritage. The former component seems to be more important to her, in that several of the narrative’s key situations (overcoming fear, a first infatuation, a bothersome little brother) seem to be problems that just about every young individual faces in one form or another, or at one time or another. Nevertheless, Summer’s ancestry is always present. The use of tender, character-driven examination of family ties, helps give this story characters filled with gentle power. The reader can identify with Summers struggles with her brother, her Japanese-American grandparents, her fear of getting bit by a mosquito and again getting malaria, and most of all, grappling with her growing consciousness of who she is and where she fits in her family. The setting is Middle America during the threshing season.  The family travels from Kansas to Texas to Oklahoma. Kansas is the state where Summer and her family make their home and where it is decided that Summer will work with her brother and Grandparents over the harvest. Texas is the second of the novel’s settings and is the location where most of the action takes place. It is the state in which Summer and her family take the first of the two “custom harvesting” jobs that they take on over the course of the narrative. Oklahoma is the third of the novel’s three settings. It is the place where the novel’s climactic action (i.e. Summer’s ultimate confrontation with her fears) takes place.

The story could be about just about any 12-year-old forced to grow up fast to help the family through a rough time. However, some cultural references are made that make you aware that Summer has some differences in her life with which she has she has to deal. Most of the cultural references revolve around her grandparents who immigrated to American after Summer was born in an American hospital while they were on vacation. The only physical reference is to Grandmother’s jet black hair (now dyed). But, many specific references are made to identify cultural aspects within the family. Summer mentions that the family is cursed and jinxed. Summer’s grandparents were the result of an arranged marriage and her grandmother goes to an acupuncturist. The family are custom harvesters which are made up of many minorities and immigrants. Her grandmother teaches her manners such as ‘never go inside if nobody let you in’, take off shoes before entering, important to be punctual, and Summer said she “felt like I had to use my best manners with people who didn’t deal with Asians. I felt like I represented the whole Asian race.” Grandfather tells tales; “tonight I tell you the story of a weed” and, “I tell you a story about life”. Summer said she was once told that you could tell your fortune by looking at the way the wind blew the wheat around you. Summer is reading A Separate Piece for her summer reading as say that it is about “two Caucasian guys who went to a boarding school during WWII. In other words, it was about a world completely alien to mine.” When kidding one of the harvester children she says ‘we put soap and water in the bathtub, and I stomp on our laundry.’ Her brother is doing his family ancestry and claims to have several samurais in his family tree.

Grandmother’s language patterns are those of someone who uses English as a second language.  She says things like ‘we having meeting-party. we invite boys we will consider for friendship with Jaz. I no interfere.’, ‘rah-rah land’, ‘Summer make’, No can be different by doing same thing as everyone else’, ‘Summer, you make one more trouble, my head explode and you guilty of murder’, Miss talk so good’ (grandmother calls Summer’s speech American English), “doctor give you pill and make you drug addict”.  And, many Japanese words are used some translated and other not.  Words used include: kouun (luck), unmei (destiny), umeboshi (soar plum good for healing power), oyasumi, oyasuminasai, saru (monkey), hai, kita makura (Japanese superstition that sleeping with your head to the north was bad luck), hara (stomach or gut), jan ken pon (rock paper scissors), tsukanoma, wabi-sabi.  Also, one of the Irish workers used the term gobshites (gullible people). Some of the names of character have Japanese names like Obaachan and Jiichan (grandmother and grandfather or Toshiro (Toshi) and Yukiko), Shika (previous dog), and Akiko (grandfather’s first love). The foods that family eats when in private are mentioned and include green tea, shabu-shabu (thick noodles with thinly sliced beef and vegetables), sashimi, and oxtail soup. Summer meditates by pressing a lucky amber against her forehead for luck, using alternating-nostril deep breathing, laying down on her back and spread out her limbs, picking a person to whom to open her heart, and saying “I accept you for who you are”.  And, the family prays in front of several sprigs of silk cherry blossoms.

4. Review Experts

~National Book Award Winner

~APALA Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature

~Six Starred Reviews

~Kirkus Reviews: “Twelve-year-old Summer and her Japanese-American family work every harvest season to earn money to pay their mortgage. But this year, they face unprecedented physical and emotional challenges. It has been a particularly hard-luck year. Among other strange occurrences, Summer was bitten by a stray, diseased mosquito and nearly died of malaria, and her grandmother suffers from sudden intense spinal pain. Now her parents must go to Japan to care for elderly relatives. So Summer, her brother and their grandparents must take on the whole burden of working the harvest and coping with one emergency after another. She writes a journal chronicling the frightening and overwhelming events, including endless facts about the mosquitoes she fears, the harvest process and the farm machinery that must be conquered. As the season progresses, her relationships with her grandparents and her brother change and deepen, reflecting her growing maturity. Her grandparents’ Japanese culture and perspective are treated lovingly and with gentle humor, as are her brother’s eccentricities. Kadohata makes all the right choices in structure and narrative. Summer’s voyage of self-discovery engages readers via her narration, her journal entries and diagrams, and even through her assigned book report of A Separate Peace. Readers who peel back the layers of obsessions and fears will find a character who is determined, compassionate and altogether delightful.”

5. Connections

~Gather and read other books by Cynthia Kadohata including:

            Kira-Kira. ISBN 0689856407

            Outside Beauty. ISBN 1416998187

~Use with other APALA Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature winners or honorees:

            Krishnaswami, Uma. Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh. ISBN 1600602614

            Tan, Susan. Illustrated by Dana Wulfekotte. Cilla Lee-Jenkins: Future Author Extraordinaire. ISBN 1250144000

            Kelly, Erin Entrada. The Land of Forgotten Girls. ISBN 0062238655

            Dilloway, Margaret. Illustrated by Choong Yoon. Momotaro Xander and the Lost Island of Monsters. ISBN 1484746813

            Milton, Marilyn. Full Cicada Moon. ISBN 0147516013

            Kelly, Erin Entrada. Blackbird Fly. ISBN 0062238620

~Science: Use in a segment about agriculture.