Flying the Dragon - Softcover

Lorenzi, Natalie Dias

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1580894356 ISBN 13: 9781580894357

Publisher: Charlesbridge, 2014

Synopsis

NY Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
 
A young American girl grapples with her Japanese heritage in this “quiet, beautifully moving portrayal of a multicultural family” for middle grade readers (School Library Journal)
 
American-born Skye is a good student and a star soccer player who never really gives any thought to the fact that her father is Japanese. Her cousin, Hiroshi, lives in Japan, and never really gives a thought to his uncle’s family living in the United States.
 
Skye and Hiroshi’s lives are thrown together when Hiroshi’s family, with his grandfather (who is also his best friend), suddenly moves to the U.S. Now Skye doesn’t know who she is anymore: at school she's suddenly too Japanese, but at home she's not Japanese enough. Hiroshi has a hard time adjusting to life in a new culture, and resents Skye’s intrusions on his time with Grandfather. Through all of this is woven Hiroshi’s expertise, and Skye’s growing interest in, kite making and competitive rokkaku kite flying.

About this title

About the Author

Natalie Dias Lorenzi is a traveler, writer, wife, mother, and teacher, specializing in English as a Second Language. She has taught in Japan and Italy, and now teaches in a Washington, DC–area school where 85% of the students are immigrants. She also writes curriculum guides to new books for writers and publishers. Flying the Dragon is her first novel.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Skye had known something was coming. The way her dad had been acting lately was beyond his normal weirdness. She just never guessed the something coming would be a bunch of Japanese relatives she’d never met. The first sign of trouble was when her dad switched from silverware to chopsticks. Maybe she shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, her dad was Japanese. Sort of. He’d been born and raised in Japan but hadn’t been back since he married her mom. To Skye he was pretty much American. And since Virginia is about as far away from Japan as you can get, Skye didn’t blame herself for forgetting that she was half Japanese herself.
But it wasn’t the chopsticks themselves that had started the whole thing. No, it happened when Skye had asked about them. Everything snowballed from there.

Edition details

• Publisher: Charlesbridge
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1580894356
• ISBN 13: 9781580894357
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240