Cynthia Kadohata (born July 2, 1956) is a Japanese American children's writer best known for her young adult novel ''

Kira-Kira ''Kira-Kira'' is a young adult novel by Cynthia Kadohata. It received the Newbery Medal for children's literature in 2005. The book's plot is about a Japanese-American family living in Georgia. The main character and narrator of the story is a g ...

'' which won the

Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished cont ...

in 2005. She won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2013 for ''The Thing About Luck''.

Biography

Kadohata was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois. Her first published short story appeared in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' in 1986. She received a BA in journalism from the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

. She also attended graduate programs at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. '' Weedflower'', her second children's book, was published in Spring 2006. It is about the Poston internment camp where her father was imprisoned during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Her third children's novel, '' Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam'' about the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

from a

war dog Dogs in warfare have a very long history starting in Ancient history, ancient times. From being trained in combat, to their use as scouts, sentries, Courier, messengers, mercy dogs, and Tracking (dog), trackers, their uses have been varied and s ...

's perspective, was published in January 2007 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers. ''Outside Beauty'', another children's novel, was published in 2008. It is about a 13-year-old girl and her three sisters, all fathered by different men and what happens when she and her sisters are separated from each other after their mother gets into an accident. Kadohata lives in Los Angeles with her boyfriend, son, and dogs.

Novels

* ''The Floating World'' (Viking, 1989) *''In the Heart of the Valley of Love'' (Viking, 1992) *''The Glass Mountains'' (Clarkston, GA, White Wolf Pub, 1995), illus. Terese Nielson and Larry S. Friedman * ''

'' (Atheneum, 2004) ::

:: Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature - Youth Literature * '' Weedflower'' (Atheneum, 2006) :: PEN USA Award * ''Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam'' (Atheneum, 2007) :: California Young Reader Medal, 2011"Booklist – Middle School / Junior High"
. California Young Reader Medal. Retrieved 2013-11-22. :: North Carolina Children's Book Award, Ohio Buckeye Children's Book Award, Nebraska Golden Sower, Kansas

William Allen White Children's Book Award The William Allen White Children's Book Award is a set of two annual awards for books selected by vote of Kansas schoolchildren from lists prepared by committee. As a single award it was established in 1952 by Ruth Garver Gagliardo, a children's l ...

, South Carolina Junior Book Award * ''Outside Beauty'' (Atheneum, 2008) * ''A Million Shades of Gray'' (Atheneum, 2010) * ''The Thing About Luck'' (Atheneum, 2013), illustrated by Julia Kuo :: National Book Award for Young People's Literature :: Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature - Youth Literature * ''Half a World Away'' (Atheneum, 2014) * ''Checked'' (Atheneum, 2018) * ''A Place to Belong'' (Atheneum, 2019)

References

* Staff (September 2007) "Cynthia Kadohata 1956– " ''Biography Today'' 15(3) pp. 38–49

External links

*
Profile at The Whiting Foundation
* :de:Amerikanische Kinder- und Jugendliteratur * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kadohata, Cynthia 1956 births Living people Writers from Chicago American children's writers American writers of Japanese descent Newbery Medal winners National Book Award for Young People's Literature winners 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers American women children's writers Columbia University alumni USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism alumni American women novelists Novelists from Illinois American novelists of Asian descent American women writers of Asian descent

Biography

Novels

See also

References

External links