A Note from Naomi

July 2008

Countdown to 1001

So here in Los Angeles June gloom is officially over and temperatures have climbed past 100 degrees some days, making it hard for me to keep my summer resolution to complete most of my errands on foot.

But in this sweltering heat, I'm excited because the release of my first middle-grade book, 1001 Cranes, is only a month away.

This is how Kirkus Reviews describes it in a review back in June:

Relationships aren't easy. They are particularly difficult when you are only 12 years old, watching your parents get ready to divorce. To spare Angie, her parents send her to her grandparents, who live in a small town outside of Los Angeles. Without parents or friends, and with no real ties to this new community, Angie feels disconnected and uncertain about where her life is headed. She is put to work by her stern Grandma Michi making origami cranes for good-luck displays within the Japanese American community, but this doesn't help... it just makes her feel more disoriented. What will happen to her family? Why has her father moved out of their house? Why is Grandma Michi so stern with her, but so caring with another young girl in the neighborhood? She's grown up in an environment of "no monku" but feels there is plenty to complain about right now. Well-written and episodic, this is an easy read that seeks to explain how relationships work or don't, and to reassure readers that it is possible to survive even the worst. (Fiction. 10 & up)

I will have a website devoted to the book, www.1001cranesbook.com. The website will include a blog, which will showcase photos of custom-made origami cranes and crane displays created by you—the readers! So e-mail me jpegs of either 1001 crane displays or folded cranes decorated in unusual ways, and your photo may be featured on the blog! All those selected with receive a special prize. E-mail to bachi AT naomihirahara.com.

I'll be doing numerous events at bookstores, schools, and libraries, so check back next month. The official kickoff will be at the Japanese American National Museum's Summer Festival on the Courtyard on Saturday, August 16 at 4 PM during the Nisei Week Japanese Festival in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo. Come celebrate and fold a crane or two!

Naomi

Archived Notes

Monthly Serial:

Follow Naomi's monthly thriller serial, The Nihongo Papers, on Discovernikkei.org.

Mas Arai in Japan:

Gasa-Gasa Girl (left) Japanese edition Published by Shogakukan in February 2008 Snakeskin Shamisen (right) Japanese edition Published by Shogakukan in May 2008

Mas Arai Mysteries:

Snakeskin Shamisen is the winner of the 2007 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original Novel!

Short Stories:

Los Angeles Noir featuring "Number 19" by Naomi Hirahara Published April 2007 A Hell of a Woman featuring "The Chirashi Covenant" by Naomi Hirahara Published December 2007

Photo of Naomi by Mario G. Reyes

©2006-08 by Naomi Hirahara. Web site by interbridge.