The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadahota-Mary Baradaran Summer 2014

I read The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadahota.   It was published in 2013 and was the National Book Award Winner for Young People’s Literature that  year.  It’s  told from 12 year old Summer’s point of view. Kouun means luck in Japanese and Summer’s family can’t seem to get a break. There has been a series of unfortunate events for the family culminating with her parents having had to travel back to Japan to be with dying relatives.  That means Summer and her brother Jaz will have to travel from Kansas to another state with her grandparents, Obaachan and Jiichan,  to complete the work  for a harvesting company that her parents were to have done.   The world from Summer’s point of view includes her  quirky brother Jaz (read lonely and trouble making friends) her old fashioned, opinionated and hilarious in a generation clashing way grandparents and just being 12.  Summer eventually learns how she can make things happen so her family can carry on and find their own luck.  I connected with each character in a different way. It was sweet to see into the life of a 12 year old and view events through her eyes.  The author especially made the grandparents very lovable using their English as a second language and cantankerous, but loving relationship for several funny and poignant events.  By the end of the book I wish I knew this family.  Kadahota’s writing had me laughing and feeling sad often right next to each other.

I haven’t had the time for a read aloud in a few years; but I’m considering making the time for this book. I’d definitely suggest it as a free read for my 6th graders.

The strategy from the article that I’d use would be to tap students’ prior knowledge.  There are many ideas from the book that could get students thinking, sharing and ready to read the book:  relationships with grandparents, English as a second language,  bad luck, effort, siblings, not belonging and the commonalities of 12 year olds.

MN Academic Standard 6.4.10.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature and other texts including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 6–8 text complexity band proficiently and independently with appropriate scaffolding for texts at the high end of the range. a. Self-select texts for personal enjoyment, interest and academic tasks. b. Read widely to understand multiple perspectives and pluralistic viewpoint. The book would fit well here because it involves an intergenerational Japanese American family in the heartland and agricultural terms.  This is a perspective many of our students probably have no experience with.