The Thing About Luck

by Cynthia Kadohata, Julia Kuo (Illustrator)

Summer knows that kouun means good luck" in Japanese, and this year her family has had none. Just when Summer thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong, an emergency whisks her parents away to Japan, right before harvest season leaving Summer and her little brother, Jaz, in the care of their elderly grandparents, Obaachan and Jiichan.

Obaachan and Jiichan are old fashioned, very demanding, and easily disappointed. Between helping Obaachan cook for the workers and with all the other chores, and worrying about her little brother, who can't seem to make any friends, Summer has her hands full. But when a welcome distraction turns into a big mess, causing further disappointment, Summer realises she must try and make her own luck as it might be the only way to save her family.

Genres: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens, Family, Juvenile

270 pages, Hardcover

First published January 4, 2013

About the author

Cynthia Kadohata is a Japanese American writer known for her insightful coming-of-age stories about Asian American women. Her first published short story appeared in The New Yorker in 1986. As she spent her early childhood in the American South, the author set both her first adult novel and her first novel for children in Southern states. The former became a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and the latter--her first children's book, entitled Kira-Kira--won the 2005 Newbery Medal.

Reviews

[Jesse (JesseTheReader)]

This was a nice little slice of life story. At times it was frustrating to read, but only because the characters are put through several tough situations and it's rough watching them go through it. It's a book that has a quiet plot, but has a loud impact. One that will take time to process.

[Dest · Rating 4 out of 5]

I agree with all the other reviewers who have praised this book for its great characters and wonderful writing and then asked, "But what kid is going to like it?" Or to be frank, "What kid is going to even pick it up?" This is a hard sell. Like Out of the Dust hard sell (but at least it has a lively cover!).

I laughed out loud a few times at Obachan and Summer's interactions and I thought Summer was a real kid's kid. She had a great, relatable voice. Still, the book has virtually no plot and, even though it is very well written, I felt like Summer's strong reactions to A Separate Peace might have been a little prescriptive--as in, Summer is deeply affected by this book she's reading, so you, Reader, may also be affected by the book you're reading.

So, this book is a winner in my heart, but I just don't know how many kids are going to get through it and appreciate all it has to offer. Can the same be said of Kira-Kira?

[Samuel · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Some kids I knew would read only books that were about something they could relate to. But I was interested in other stuff."

When I got to that passage, I actually had to take a break from reading The Thing About Combines Luck to ponder the critical question: did I just get trolled by Cynthia Kadohata?


The book that prompts that statement from Summer, The Thing About Luck's protagonist, is A Separate Peace. A few paragraphs down, Summer muses further about that novel: "Why would a book in which hardly anything happened for most of the time eat at me so much? It was the weirdest thing."

I almost wonder if that isn't less character dialogue, and more Kadohata's artistic statement of intent. The Thing About Luck is a book in which hardly anything happens for most of the time, about a lifestyle that for most people is very remote, interrupted repeatedly with pages of technical and logistical details that don't advance what little plot there is. It's a book that aspires to make something powerful happen quietly, but unlike some other novels with similar aspirations (The Hidden Summer is probably the best example from this year), it doesn't pull together the elements well enough to make the power visible.

Many readers seem to be big fans of the characters, but I feel like Luck suffers from what the Onion AV Club calls "the hole in the middle." Summer's grandparents are wonderful and deep, and Mick, one of the Irish workers, reveals hidden sides to his personality as the novel progresses, but Summer herself is both frustratingly bland, and armed with a backstory (malaria!) that never really has a payoff. Jaz, Summer's brother, also feels like a blurry photocopy of characters we've encountered before. Again, I couldn't help but compare Luck unfavorably to The Hidden Summer, which gave shading and nuance to all of its characters, major and minor.

The vast emptiness of the mid-American setting is well-realized, even distinguished, to use the Newbery word. But Luck's plot is vapor-thin, and its prose is fine but unspectacular, and I think its style, with its constant interruptions of its own narrative, doesn't, in the end, succeed. It's not that I can't relate to it, I don't think, or that hardly anything happens (which also describes Breathing Room, and The Hidden Summer, and most of my favorite adult fiction) -- it's that the parts just don't add up to the whole that they aim to produce.


This review also appeared at abouttomock.blogspot.com

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summer's family is having a year of terrible luck. Summer recently recovered from a freak bout of malaria, her brother is a friendless oddball, and her parents just flew to Japan to care for some elderly relatives. That leaves Summer alone with her grandparents for wheat harvesting season. She's usually just along for the ride, but this year, with her grandmother's back pain worsening and her grandfather slowing down, she finds herself facing a lot more responsibility. To make things worse, she's coming down with her first bout of infatuation. And she has only her copy of A Separate Peace and her grandfather's stories to guide her through this troublesome time.

When Louis Sachar's novel, The Cardturner, came out in 2010, I remember a lot of people saying, "Oh, it's not really a book about bridge!" So I picked it up and gave it a try, and discovered that it is, in fact, a book about bridge. Sachar himself lampshaded that fact by signaling the onset of technical bridge explanations with a whale symbol (a reference to Moby Dick and its notorious technical whaling chapters). He invited the reader to skip those sections if she so chooses. Oh, and I did. But the game of bridge was not effectively quarantined by the whales - it seeped inexorably, unbearably out into the rest of the novel. Or at least the 100 pages I managed to read.

Likewise, I can imagine a defender of The Thing About Luck saying, "But it's not really about combines!" Honey, it is. Not much happens in this book, but what little action there is concerns itself almost exclusively with the wheat harvesting process. There is a lot of information about combines and other large farm equipment here, and, plot-wise, not a whole lot else. It makes Junonia, by Kevin Henkes, look positively action-packed.

That's a shame, because there's some really excellent writing here. The four main characters - Summer, her brother, and the two grandparents - are all expertly drawn. They are infuriating and sympathetic by turns -

real people with real fears. The setting is so vividly described that it almost becomes a character in its own right. When I read Kadohata's descriptions of the stark beauty of the wheat fields, I was reminded of Willa Cather and her passionate portraits of the American West. Like My Antonia, this too is a story about the dignity of hard work, the beauty of desolate places, and the struggle of Americans, new and old, to learn who they are and where they belong.

Unfortunately, this is a collection of wonderful characters and settings in search of a plot. I know that "appeal" is a bad word at the Newbery table, but the criteria do require the book to effectively address its intended audience. I honestly can't imagine the intrepid elementary school kid who would make it past the combines to the quiet beauty hidden in The Thing About Luck.

[Crystal Faris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, this was boring. I have heard a wide variety of impressions about this book but I am hard pressed to understand the award-worthiness. I know it was the National Book Award winner for young people and it is on many Mock Newbery lists which is what rated it two stars for me. If I had read it before all the great words from other people it would have been only one star. There has to be something of value I am missing for it to be so honored this year.

Probably my largest concern is the significant amount of space dedicated to the details of the wheat harvest. I could not rid myself of thinking that the author had done a significant amount of research and needed to share as much as possible. There were many more details than were necessary even with the harvest being so vital to Summer's life and story. Other things were vital to Summer's life and story and as readers we received little if any details.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Doesn't anyone write upbeat books for young people anymore?

Is dysfunctional the new normal?

It must be. I don't know.

Jaz is the sibling with "issues" in this book, which sound like one of those syndromes so beloved of child psychologists these days, what with the rageaholic head-banging and the superconcentration and the Lego obsession. Summer is far from "normal" herself with her obsession with calculating everything, even as she claims to be terrible at math. And who draws detailed pictures of mosquitoes? Sounds like Jaz is just the identified patient in this family.

I can't see child readers being interested in allll thooose deeetaaails about farm machinery and how it works, not even kids from wheat country. In fact, especially not kids from wheat country, because they already know. And city kids wouldn't be interested. Adults, maybe. Maybe.

I didn't really enjoy the book, not least because of its fragmentary nature. It just kind of stops in the middle. The characters weren't terribly sympathetic, either. And what is the deal with including drawing from a kid's notebook...it's so common these days, do they think it lends some kind of authenticity? (It doesn't.) But at least nobody died, and that includes the dog.

So why did I give it two stars? Because it's not the author's fault I didn't like it much. There's actually some good writing here, considering it's one of those adolescent-girl coming of age stories, without the shoujo sentiment. Beats the crap out of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret which was all the rage when I was twelve. (And boy did I just date myself). Summer is right about A Separate Peace--I had to read it about 40 years ago when I was around her age, and the class couldn't relate to it anymore than she did. We were Midwestern farm kids too, and the angst of a bunch of spoiled rich kids in boarding school just seemed...weird...to us.

It's a fast read; I finished it in a couple of hours. But personally I'd be wary of giving it to its target audience, in case the young reader started obsessing about having some of the problems Jaz and Summer do.

[Penny Peck · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most satisfying tween books I have read this year, this first person novel seems so authentic in voice that it doesn't matter if the plot is relatively "quiet." But the plot is interesting and unusual - 12 year old Summer is spending weeks on the road with her brother and grandparents, working the wheat harvest in Kansas. Her grandparents were born in Japan, but the family is a true American example of an immigrant family - the kids are all American down to speaking perfect English and wanting things all kids want. Summer's brother is unusual - maybe having a type of Asperger's - and she just wants to not be in trouble and to get her first kiss. The relationship between the kids and the grandparents is memorable (the parents are away for the summer in Japan), and even though the grandparents speak "pidgin" English, they have a lot to say that will make the reader think about what wisdom they can glean from their own grandparents. I really enjoyed the details about wheat harvesting, which added to the book's uniqueness.

[Chance Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 2013 National Book Award Winner for Young People's Literature, The Thing About Luck is the story of summer, a young Japanese-American girl, whose family works as special harvesters. Summer, her temperamental brother, and her bickering grandparents travel the Midwest during harvesting season, driving combines, harvesting wheat, dumping it off, and cooking for others in their convoy. Along the way, Summer falls in love (so she thinks -- she's only twelve!), learns responsibility, and spends a lot of time being afraid of mosquitoes (she's recovering from malaria).

Cynthia Kadohata has lovingly crafted an intimate, quiet story. There is no big drama, no disaster, no Texas Twister that takes away a combine and forces Summer to fight for her life. Despite its small scope, the book still tackles big themes: familial love, romantic love, duty, and honor. These themes strike me as very Japanese characteristics, but the book is not one about racial identity despite Summer and her family seemingly being some of the only Asian persons in Kansas.

Summer is curious and smart but insecure. I feel that her insecurity is brought upon her by her grandparents, called Jiichan and Obaachan. They are the type of people who persuade Summer for doing the right thing, then they ground her for doing it. For instance, Jiichan and Obaachan don't speak the best English. They often have Summer do the talking for them, yet they tease her by calling her Miss Talks So Good. They also argue constantly. They argue with each other. They argue with Summer. They argue about arguing. They're stubborn as hell and both a hoot to read about and frustrating as all get-out. They also coddle her brother, who would likely be diagnosed as autistic and has a violent temper, yet they allow him to get away with everything. No wonder Summer has such inner turmoil.

I do not envy Summer's family situation at all. She handles it much better than I ever could. And as someone who came from a loveless family and who covets sitcom families for how loving and warm they are, I think I would still take my hateful family unit over the constant bickering and stress Summer must endure.

But I'm not Japanese-American. I'm American-American, which means I shall forgo any sense of duty in order to make my own existence easier and more gratifying. This American laxity is represented in another character, a fourteen-year-old boy who only contributes to the harvesting process in the most minimal of ways. Of course it's up to the non-white girl to do all the actual work. Summer's sense of duty and her perseverance are her most admirable characteristics, and I love the way she steps up and saves the family at the end of the story. But she also understands that, although her ending may be a happy one, happiness is only temporary. She can only do what she can, and be satisfied with it. I think that's a wonderful message.

Summer and her family are full realized characters drawn with precise details. Summer's brother likes LEGOs. Obaachan's favorite thing is to watch people fall over on America's Funniest Home Videos. Kadohata also creates other compelling characters outside the family, like the Parkers, whom Summer's family works for. I found it amusing how much Obaachan hates Mrs. Parker, a woman who might be more of a controlling perfectionist than she is. If Obaachan catches on that all the characterstics she despises in Mrs. Parker are ones she possesses herself, she doesn't articulate it. The Parkers also have a hot son (in Summer's eyes) who teaches Summer some early lessons about love. I could do without the awkward gushing in my middle-grade fiction, but what's there is handled well. Summer is endearingly dorky and appropriately melodramatic.

Kadohata works in literary references to A Separate Peace, a book I personally hated in high school. Summer feels about the same way toward this story of two boys at boarding school, but she puts more thought into it than I ever did. The parts where Summer does her lit homework are a little too meta for my tastes, feeling like author commentary coming through the story. Summer expounds upon how literature can help us examine ourselves and learn new things about our innermost beings. It's not untrue -- just look at me examining myself in this review -- but its heavy handedness stands out in what is otherwise a subtly crafted story.

As for the setting, Kadohata fully describes the wheat-harvesting process, for better or for worse. Personally, I liked learning all the details about the grueling process. And the way Summer describes them is a brilliant way for Kadohata to show astute readers that despite Summer's insecurity about her intelligence -- "I'm bad at math!" she says, like the talking Barbie from the early 90s -- she is able to calculate how much wheat can be harvested in a day with a few quick calculations in her notebook.

The one thing about The Thing About Luck that didn't gel for me was the title! It feels tacked on to give the book a catchier title than, I don't know, Harvesting Days, or something that would more accurately describe the mundane narrative. The cover also illustrates a scene in the book that is very brief and, like the title, doesn't feel entirely intrinsic to the story. But these flaws, if you can even call them that, would be like finding a bug in your cream of wheat. A lot work went into bringing that bowl of wheat to your breakfast table, work that hardly goes acknowledged. You shouldn't throw the whole thing out because there's a bug in it. Its presence is the result of a stroke of bad luck, more for the dead bug than for you. Flick the bug out and enjoy the rest of the meal.

[Cintya Larasinta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ada nasib buruk, keberuntungan, dan membuat keberuntunganmu sendiri-itulah yang harus dilakukan Summer untuk menyelamatkan keluarganya.

Untuk pertama kalinya, aku membaca buku dg pengarang Cynthia Kadohata ini, namun aku tidak tahu bahwa penerbit Gramedia pernah menerjemahkan buku Cynthia Kadohata lainnya, yakni Weedflower dan Kira-Kira. Nah, alasanku membeli buku The thing about Luck, tertarik covernya yang dibuat orang Indonesia yang membuatku menarik perhatian serta sekali2 ingin membaca bergenre drama keluarga gitu, dan dalam sekejap aku telah berhasil menyelesaikan membacanya dalam sehari pula (wow…itu pertama kalinya menyelesaikan SEHARI, itu benar2 serius? Aku sendiri saja terkejut.) yaaah…sejujurnya, aku memang menikmati membacanya juga, krn ada beberapa hal2 yang sangat menarik atau cara interaksi Summer-Jaz(adik Summer)-Obaachan(Nenek Summer-Jaz) cukup menghibur sampai aku tidak bisa berenti tertawa. Dan gaya bahasanya, begitu sederhana dan kental membalut kisah Summer dengan sebuah cerita citra khas pedesaan tapi aku suka loh.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This did not sound like a book I would like, so I was surprised that I enjoyed it so much - which come to think of it was the same reaction I had to the author's Newbery winner, Kira-Kira. Maybe the book blurbs just don't capture the essence of her writing?

I loved the relationship between Summer and her grandmother, and even more I loved that there was never an over-the-top scene where it is made abundantly clear that the grandmother really does love her, despite harping on her constantly. Summer comes to realize that she's never going to get a clear signal on that front, and that's just the way life is sometimes. That's very realistic.

I loved the part at the beginning where Summer says hello to the class outcast and he's quite hostile back to her. That seemed like a scene from real life.

There was a bit too much info-dumping about wheat and harvesting. I can't quite decide whether that information was necessary so that I could understand everything that was going on and its context, or whether it was essentially extraneous to the core story.

The obsession with mosquitoes also got tiring after awhile. It was an interesting quirk at first, but then it was annoying. It's difficult to notice a mosquito biting you, so it's different than if it had been a dog attack or something like that, with ptsd. I did like that having malaria earlier in the year gave her a different perspective on things, making her more self-aware in a realistic manner.

The relationship with her brother, both annoyed and loving, seemed well done, as well as the family's general acceptance of Jaz for who he is, taking his temper more or less in stride, while also worrying about him and his happiness.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, almost finished it in one sitting.
It immerses you in the emotional growth of a 12 year old girl in the US., a girl who undertakes challenges and deals with difficult times with courage and resilience. Not many her age would decide they needed to support their family by driving a combine harvester at night and cooking for 12 people and owning up to her dog killing chickens - for which she paid good money. She also falls in temporary love, handles a boss/ worker relationship, copes with her brother who is sometimes difficult(diagnosed OCD but could also be Aspergers), worries about his lack of friends and grows to understand /tolerate her strict Japanese grandmother without becoming too rebellious.
The year of bad luck had started with her having a rare attack of malaria and she is terrified of catching it again and any appearance of mosquitoes makes her scream... She smothers herself in Deet and worries what affect that is having on her health..... And she contemplates life and meditates.
And someone says nothing happens in the book!!!!!!!
11-13 year old girls (mostly) and their mothers, aunts, grandmothers would love this.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The thing about luck is that it's like a fever. You can take fever meds and lie in bed and drink chicken broth and sleep seventeen hours in a row, but basically your fever will break when it wants to break."
p.2

"I knew you would have to work hard at it, because if it was easy to untangle yourself, everybody would be untangled, which simply isn't true."
p. 154

[David Getz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The world should be as beautiful as this book. It is just a shame adults don't read children's books because we would he happier people if we did.

[Katherine 黄爱芬 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summer dan adiknya, Jaz dititipkan ke kakek nenek mrk saat ortu mrk mendadak hrs ke Jepang. Waktunya berdekatan dgn musim panen gandum dimana kakek & nenek Summer bekerja membantu panen gandum.

Di tempat Mr & Mrs Parker inilah Summer bertemu Robbie, anak laki² yg mengajarinya ciuman pertama. Di tempat inilah Summer makin belajar utk bekerja dan mengamati interaksi kakek dan neneknya yg sangat lucu krn mrk sering berbantahan.

Novel ini lumayan bagus utk ukuran children/new YA, terkadang diselipkan budaya Jepang jg. Summer cukup peka namun gak sampai baperan dgn situasi & kondisi neneknya yg suka berubah-ubah suasana hatinya yg kemungkinan efek dari sakit punggungnya. Kakeknya jg mendadak sakit jd Summer merasakan tanggungjawab utk mengambil alih pekerjaan kakeknya. Summer hrs mengalahkan rasa takutnya utk mjd dewasa. Rekomendasi buat penyuka genre Children / YA.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summer, her autistic brother, and her strict elderly Japanese grandparents must work hard enough at harvesting wheat to make up for her missing parents.

Most of us are so spoiled and lucky - that was what I got from the book. I never had to work at fourteen and I never had to do the hard physical labor described in this book (though my mom did both of those). I liked Summer and her near panic about mosquitoes after her experience with malaria. I enjoyed the glimpse into a different culture through her Japanese roots.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

i mean it wasn’t a page turner or anything but it was a cute family book. not much of a plot but i enjoyed it anyways. myb i’ll switch to children’s books now

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I had to use one word to describe this book, it would be: boring. This book was boring. It was so boring I couldn't stand it. The premise was unique and had a lot of promise. A 12-year-old girl who has recently recovered from a bout with malaria spends her summer with her brother and grandparents wheat harvesting in the Midwest. Several things provide the basic construct for the story. Summer is so afraid of catching malaria again that she obsessively scrubs her skin with DEET (a worrisome choice that is never fully resolved or addressed but is consistently mentioned); her brother Jaz exists somewhere on the autism spectrum, and Summer occasionally reflects on his difficulty with making friends; and, finally, Summer meets a large cast of characters while wheat harvesting that teach her a lot about the different ways people can behave under different circumstances.

All of the above could have made for an interesting story, but it wasn't so much the plot itself that was problematic. Summer must take over for her grandparents in their duties because they are often under the weather. Through this, she gains confidence in herself and learns a lot about how people sometimes make their own luck and when they don't, they have to adjust as best they can. Kadohata's main hangup was in the writing style, which was tedious and extremely flat. She spent too much describing the process of wheat harvest, providing literal instructions on how this is done. There were also pointless illustrations scattered throughout the story that added nothing to the text. Finally, the story in general felt underdeveloped. Concepts were introduced and then wrapped up quickly and clumsily.

Summer's parents are away in Japan taking care of sick relatives, and they never actually enter the action at any point in the story. This didn't hurt the narrative, though. The grandparents prove to be valid and interesting authority figures, helping Summer to understand the nature of hard work, relationships and life. They were about the only interesting thing about this story, but even their personalities left something to be desired in terms of development.

There were also periodic references to the World War II-era novel A Separate Peace, about the troubled relationship between two friends. The author's desire to tie that book to this story was clunky at best. I don't see much relation between the two, and nor will readers, most of whom probably have not and will not read A Separate Peace. I've seen this before in children's books. I'm unclear why authors of books for young people feel the need to draw comparison between other stories. The only book I really felt effectively did this was When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. But more often than not, I see no reason for the inclusion of such a device.

This won the National Book Award. I could see why judges might choose this book, which rapidly became very philosophical in the last 30 pages, but I would make a large case for skipping over this story. I felt like I was reading a news article rather than a novel.

[Estee · Rating 3 out of 5]

What? This book is done? Wait a minute, so what is the thing about luck? Is it that luck is wabi-sabi*? argh. How could I have missed it? I need Jiichan to tell me a story about it so I can understand it better!

I loved Obaachan and Jiichan!! They were my favorite characters!

This was a cute book, but here are some other questions I had:

How dangerous/difficult it is to drive and operate a combine?
What do they feed Thunder?
Why was Thunder even be allowed to go with them?
Why are Obaachan and Jiichan even harvesting this year?

*"It's very hard to determine what wabi-sabi is, because supposedly if you could define it, then you knew it couldn't really bewabi-sabi. It's kind of important to what it means to be Japanese, and yet hardly anybody knows exactly what it was. It kind of means that there can be beauty and nobility inside a rough exterior."

[Ruby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't started it but it looks really good little summary in the back and its about a family that has super bad luck and this girl thinks that nothing could possibly go wrong in summer.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summer’s had some rotten luck.

She’s on a long trip with her brother and grandparents, working for a wheat harvesting company for the season so they can pay the rent while her parents are in Japan with a sick friend. Bad luck.

Her temperamental brother Jaz can’t seem to make a friend anywhere he goes. Bad luck.

Her grandma’s back pain is getting worse, and her grandpa’s getting sick. Bad luck.

And no matter how hard she tries, her grandmother acts like everything that goes wrong is Summer’s fault. Talk about bad luck.

Every time it looks like something good is going to happen, bad luck strikes somewhere else. But when things get really awful, Summer starts to realize something she didn’t know her grandmother was teaching her all along: not everything is up to luck.

This book was so. good. And Summer’s narration is funny, even when she’s talking about something serious.

Newbery, anyone?

Grown-up portion of review:

I love finding a children's book that deals with a rarely-touched topic in a nuanced, relevant-to-kids way. In this one, Kadohata does some good work with guilt.

Summer tries really hard to do what she thinks is right and, for the most part, does very well. She's a hard worker and she's compassionate. So when those evil thoughts come (you know, the kind that pop into everybody's head every hour of every day), and when her grandmother insinuates that things are her fault, she does a thorough job of beating herself up. Part of her journey in the novel is how she learns to recognize the value of her own good choices and derive from them a healthy counter to her guilt.

Also? The character of her grandmother is gold. She's tough and even mean and simultaneously full of love and wisdom.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all, let me say it was interesting learning about custom harvesting. I grew up on a small family farm so I've always been curious about how big farms work. But there are so many problems with this book. It's mostly boring (like going wheating, I guess...). Summer's grandparents are over-the-top goofed (all the better to support the themes...). The cover is pretty, but wrong, because it's a big deal that Summer's hair is frizzy and that she and her brother don't cooperate well. It doesn't answer any questions, like how the heck can a tight schedule get any tighter, how can the drivers go from working 15 hours a day to working 20, what made grandma think she could cook for the crew this year, what exactly is wrong with Jaz, why doesn't the obviously brilliant Summer get better grades, etc. etc.

It's the kind of book teachers will like because it teaches kids about Kansas and the farms of the Great Plains, and about Japanese immigrants and Irish seasonal workers. And about 12 being too young to sneak away to get kissed, and a being a hard worker, and being honest when it would be easier to keep a secret.

But I can't imagine young me enjoying it. It feels more like a draft. Or, if it weren't all serious, I'd accuse it of being forgettable fluff like Babysitters' Club or something. Good intentions, and even heart, but too earnest, and too dull.

[Crystal Bandel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata, published 2013.

Realistic fiction.

Novel with a few illustrations.

Grades 4-8.

Found via Booklist, reviewed by Michael Cart.

The Thing About Luck follows first-generation Japanese American Summer, whose family is plagued with bad luck. Her parents are taking care of relatives in Japan, so her old-fashioned Japanese grandparents must work in Summer's parents' stead, traveling across the United States as wheat harvesters. Though a good portion of this novel focuses on harvesting wheat, Summer's journey also deals with generational conflicts, first love, and having the strength to do the right thing for the sake of others. Reviewer Michael Cart claims the main appeal for readers will lie in "the emotionally rich and often humorous dynamics of Summer's relationship with her old-fashioned but endearing grandparents and her troubled younger brother." Indeed, this book may appeal more to children who have farming knowledge and can relate to traveling around during the harvest, but other children should also be able to relate to Summer's feelings throughout this book. There are mentions of Summer's previous near-death experience with malaria, but these shouldn't be enough to keep readers at bay.

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

national book award winner for 2013, kids book for maybe 12 year olds. story of young girl and her little brother, living and working with their grandparents (mom n dad had to go back to japan of fam business) and their work is custom harvesting, wheat harvest in middle of usa with big combines and trucks etc, grandma is funny character, strong and joking both. the work is super hard and long, custom harvesters have to move from farm to farm, starting in southern plains in june, working north to dakotas in fall. farmers rely on them to get the job done when it needs done, as it is their yearly income on the line. detailed and behind the curtain facts of working people in the usa which i thought was the best parts, characters are ok, and plot too, but story of farms, farming and john deeres is what i liked. many reviewers think this is a boring story, but you ask, is tv and tech so exciting?
a neat interview with author here: http://www.slj.com/2014/01/authors-il...

[Mary Louise Sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twelve-year-old Summer is one unlucky girl to contact malaria in modern times so she continually sprays herself with DEET for protection. But there is no protection from more bad luck which follows her family (like the mosquitoes) when her parents have to go to Japan to care for relatives while Summer and her brother Jazz, "cursed with invisibility" have to stay behind with her Japanese grandparents who must come out of retirement to help harvest the wheat in order to help pay the mortgage. Summer's grandfather helps drive the combines through some mid-west states,while Summer helps her feisty Japanese grandmother (who has her CDL driving license) cook meals for the "Wheaties", people who work the wheat fields. When Summer's grandfather gets ill what can Summer do to help the family finally find luck?

A wonderful, modern-day, multi-generational, multi-cultural family relationship story.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you have chores at home? What are things you do to help your family? Do you mow? Do you ever operate any sort of machinery? Do you ever wonder what driving might feel like? Summer is spending her spring and summer with a wheat harvesting crew that travels from Texas, through her home state of Kansas, all the way to the Dakotas. Her family farms, and they call harvest their “mortgage money.” Summer’s parents are called away, so her maternal grandparents come to help the Parker crew with the harvest and meal cooking. Traditional Japanese grandparents bring their own views, especially that of Kuoon, good luck. After Summer’s bout of malaria, she could use good luck. Over the course of the Harvest, Summer learns a lot about the love of a family, having luck and making luck.

(2013, April 01) Booklist

http://www.booksinprint2.com.leo.lib....#

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am from Kansas wheat country and would describe many of my favorite books as character-driven, understated, and/or subtle, yet I found this to have an excess of all of those features. It tells a quiet story focused on characters from Kansas working to harvest wheat, and reading it was pleasant enough, I just think the book's appeal is too niche and there wasn't enough story there for it to be more than quietly pleasant. The National Book Award committee obviously enjoyed and admired it, and the writing is admirable; I'm just having trouble imagining many 10-12 year-olds feeling the same way.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a short book, this was a very slow read. The story is a simple but decent growing up tale, but is plagued by a lot of side-tracks about Harvesters and harvesting and mosquitoes and A Separate Peace which were tiresome. I also did not particularly like Summer, or Jaz, or her grandmother (I did like her grandfather) and it is easier to read about characters you like.

[Jewell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A terrific coming-of-age tale about Summer, a Japanese-American girl who learns how to make her own "kouun," good luck. Great cast of characters. A wonderful book,deserving of the National Book Award.
Unique, engaging, heartfelt.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

One Sentence Review: Deserves every accolade it receives, my sole objection is the threshing . . . oh, the threshing!

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Temporary love very beautiful thing. In Japan, thing that don't last called tsukanoma. Tsukanoma very beautiful, like cherry blossom. Perfect."