Call Me Okaasan: Adventures in Multicultural Mothering

What happens when your child doesn't speak your native language? How do you maintain cultural traditions while living outside your native country? And how can you raise a child with two cultures without fracturing his/her identity? From our house to your house - to the White House - more and more mothers are facing questions such as these. Whether through intercultural marriage, international adoption or peripatetic lifestyles, families these days are increasingly multicultural. In this collection, women around the world, such as Xujun Eberlein, Violet Garcia-Mendoza, Rose Kent, Marie Lamba, Leza Lowitz, Holly Thompson, Saffia Farr, and others, ponder the unique joys and challenges of raising children across two or more cultures. Suzanne Kamata's short work has appeared in over 100 publications. She is the author of a novel, LOSING KEI, and a picture book, PLAYING FOR PAPA, both of which concern bicultural families. She is also the editor of two previous anthologies - THE BROKEN BRIDGE: Fiction from Expatriates in Literary Japan and LOVE YOU TO PIECES: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with Special Needs, and is currently fiction editor of "Literary Mama". Born and raised in Michigan and most recently from South Carolina, she now lives in rural Japan with her Japanese husband and bicultural twins.

"Kamata offers beautiful and sometimes treacherous maps of the territory that multicultural parents face. They are maps that such families need, and it is up to the reader to continue the conversation." --The Japan Times

"Kamata has produced an interesting book. [Suggested] for young adults and older, to help understand culturally blended families and avoid awkward situations."  --MultiCultural Review

"This book is a treasure to read...packed with emotional honesty and multicultural wisdom, making it very relevant to the peripatetic lifestyle we lead." --Destinations

"For any family that is living abroad or is planning to move abroad, this book offers superlative insight into the issues and challenges that families may face and is a must read for both parents." --J Select Magazine

"Call Me Okaasan...is a powerful commentary on motherhood...[The book] celebrates the uniqueness of biracial children. It also deals with the myriad emotions suffered by their parents." --The Telegraph