While I Was Away

Named one of New York Public Library's & Bank Street's Best Books of the Year!
The Farewell meets Erin Entrada Kelly's Blackbird Fly in this empowering middle grade memoir from debut author Waka T. Brown, who takes readers on a journey to 1980s Japan, where she was sent as a child to reconnect to her family's roots.
When twelve-year-old Waka's parents suspect she can't understand the basic Japanese they speak to her, they make a drastic decision to send her to Tokyo to live for several months with her strict grandmother. Forced to say goodbye to her friends and what would have been her summer vacation, Waka is plucked from her straight-A-student life in rural Kansas and flown across the globe, where she faces the culture shock of a lifetime.
In Japan, Waka struggles with reading and writing in kanji, doesn't quite mesh with her complicated and distant Obaasama, and gets made fun of by the students in her Japanese public-school classes. Even though this is the country her parents came from, Waka has never felt more like an outsider.
If she's always been the ?smart Japanese girl? in America but is now the ?dumb foreigner? in Japan, where is home...and who will Waka be when she finds it?

About the author

Waka T. Brown was the first American born in her family. She is a Stanford graduate with a master’s degree in secondary education. She’s currently an instructor at the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE), authoring curriculum on several international topics and winning the Association for Asian Studies’ national Franklin R. Buchanan Prize. She’s also been awarded the United States–Japan Foundation and EngageAsia’s national 2019 Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award for her groundbreaking endeavors in teaching about US-Japan relations to high school students in Japan and promoting cultural exchange awareness. She lives with her family in Portland, Oregon.

Summary

Named one of New York Public Library's & Bank Street's Best Books of the Year!The Farewell meets Erin Entrada Kelly's Blackbird Fly in this empowering middle grade memoir from debut author Waka T.

Additional text

"Waka fills her book with all the pathos, yearning, frustrations, and humor you might find in a middle grade novel. The important difference? It’s all true. It’s all real. It’s all enthralling. A thorough delight."

Product details

• Authors: Waka T Brown, Waka T. Brown
• Publisher: Quill Tree Books
• Content: Book
• Product form: Paperback / Softback
• Publication date: 21.12.2021
• Subject: Children's and young people's books > Non-fiction books / Non-fiction picture books > Miscellaneous
• EAN: 9780063017122
• ISBN: 978-0-06-301712-2
• Pages: 336
• Age Recommendation: ages 8 to 12
• Subjects: Japan, Puzzle, World, Adventure, Bio, Travel, Coming of age, Kansas, Education, Literature, History, Diversity, Word, Geography, Trip, Toddler, Game, Road Trip, Urban, kindness, Road Atlas, Story, Immigration, Map, Asia, family, Immigrant, Activity, Historical, Identity, Craft, Japanese, Nonfiction, Friendship, fun, Making, Road, Bullies, Asian Art, School, Cultural, Own Voices, Grandma, Young, picture, True, preschool, multicultural, idea, Grandpa, #OwnVoices, asian, grandparents, Children’s / Teenage: General interest, Children’s / Teenage: Personal and social topics, Children’s / Teenage general interest: Information resources, Children’s / Teenage general interest: History and the past, Children’s / Teenage general interest: Places and peoples, Self Esteem, JUVENILE NONFICTION: Social Topics / Emotions & Feelings, JUVENILE NONFICTION: Social Topics / Adolescence, JUVENILE NONFICTION: Family / Multigenerational, JUVENILE NONFICTION: People & Places / Asia, JUVENILE NONFICTION: Social Topics / New Experience, friend, childrens, Children’s / Teenage social topics: Migration / refugees, moving, Asian American, differences, Fish out of water, Family relationships, Introvert, Japanese culture, JUVENILE NONFICTION / Places / Asia, lit, Grandmother, realistic, Non, nonfiction books for kids, language barriers, Travel games, books for 12 year old boys, books for kids, word search, friendship stories, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Emotions, moods, feelings and behaviours, Relating to peoples: ethnic groups, indigenous peoples, cultures and other groupings of people, fitting in, books for 8 year old girls, books for 8 year old boys, books for 10 year old boys, books for 12 year old girls, books for 9 year old boys, books for 9 year old girls, books for 11 year old girls, activity books for kids, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Self-awareness and self-esteem, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Bullying and harassment, Relating to Asian American / Pacific Islander American people, friendship books for kids, Asian authors, favorites, diversity books for kids, books for 11 year old boys, travel books for kids, tween books for girls ages 11 12 13 14, family stories, history books for kids, diverse childrens books, family games, classroom books, books for 8 year olds, childrens books ages 8 9 10 11 12, bullying middle grade, Asian cookbook, preschool activity book, nonfiction for tweens, Middle grade nonfiction, finding your voice, geography for kids, asian lit, kids books ages 8 9 10, travel activities for kids, Kids atlas, AAPI books for kids, japanese language learning, activity books for kids ages 4 5 6 7 8, standing up to bullies, middle grade memoir, kids map book, world atlas kids, word search for kids, tween cookbook, japanese protagonist, middle grade biography, Japanese School, literacy middle grade memoir, outsider memoir middle grade, slice of life stories, japanase-american main character, nonfiction middle grade, coming of age stories for kids, friendship middle grade memoir, literacyatlas, second language middle grade