about the book
Skye Tsuki is part Japanese but never thinks about it. Her parents met in Japan, but they returned to the US, making Virginia their home for the past twelve years. Because of a family feud, they rarely talk about the Japanese relatives. Though her father will occasionally use a Japanese phrase, their family is totally Americanized—and that is the way Skye likes it. An avid soccer player, she finally makes the All-Star team this summer.
Hiroshi Tsuki has lived his entire life in Japan. He hardly knows of his uncle, his wife, or their daughter. Hiroshi spends every moment he can with his Grandfather, a master kite builder and a champion Rokkaku battle kite flyer. It is their passion. This summer, he plans to participate in the Rokkaku competition for the first time.
Both teens’ plans are crushed when Grandfather is diagnosed with cancer. To get treatment, he must immigrate to Virginia with Hiroshi and his parents. That means Skye has to forsake soccer to go to Japanese language school and act as Hiroshi’s interpreter. She resents this intrusion into her perfect life. Hiroshi is just as angry. He resents her intrusion on his time with his beloved Grandfather.
To make matter worse, Skye and Hiroshi both face challenges and prejudices they have never had to contend with before. Her old friends suddenly find Skye’s too Japanese while her new acquaintances at language school find her too American. Intelligent Hiroshi is frustrated at not being understood and forced to study embarrassing elementary ESL readers. Both children struggle with being caught between cultures.
Though they are so different, the two find common ground: their love of Grandfather, their passion for Rokkaku kites, and the hope in winning the annual Washington Cherry Blossom Kite Festival. While Grandfather’s health declines and the days pass, the two must learn to work as a team. But is it possible for them to become friends?
about the author
Natalie Dias Lorenzi grew up in an Air Force family, which meant she moved around a lot. She found making friends in books much easier that making real life pals. Even when the family moved back to the US, Natalie experienced culture shock. By the age of nine, she knew she wanted to be a teacher. It was a much more likely career than being an author.
She attended the University of Virginia and taught elementary and ESL classes for 19 years in the U.S., Italy, and Japan. Currently, Natalie is a full-time school librarian in Fairfax County, Virginia, where 85% of her students are immigrants. They speak 39 different languages!
Natalie didn’t start writing until the birth of her second child. As a stay-at-home mom, she made time to research publishing, took online classes, and connected with other writers, especially at Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators conferences. She’s been writing ever since.
Her novel, Flying the Dragon, is inspired by her experiences living abroad and her ESL students. In Japan, she was often confused by the difficult language and the different culture. Later she married an Italian and they lived there for five years. Though their children were bi-lingual, their younger daughter had difficulties. First, she refused to speak English while living in Italy and later, forgot most of her Italian while living in the US. Because the family returns to Italy every summer, the child had to attend language classes just like Natalie’s character, Skye.
Natalie is an incurable wanderer. Besides living overseas, she has backpacked through Europe, visited relatives in Colombia and Ecuador, slipped on glaciers in Alaska, waved from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, raced in the taxi at sundown on the last day of Ramadan in Cairo, walked the Great Wall in China, and argued with a cop for running a green light in Bali.
In her spare time, she also writes teachers guides and children’s book reviews.
Sources:
Author website
Author interview: Literary Rambles
Author interview: Mr. Shu Reads
Author interview: From the Mixed Up Files
Author video describing the book
Video about Rokkaku Kites and the Cherry Blossom Festival competition : Jama Rattigan
Also by Natalie Dias Lorenzi:
A Long Pitch Home. Charlesbridge Publishing. September 2016.
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