To learn more about Book Spotlight, read this.

The Star Festival, written by Moni Ritchie Hadley and illustrated by Mizuho Fujisawa, tells the story of Tanabata through the eyes of a child, Keiko.

What I liked:

• Mizuho Fujisawa’s warm, bright colors were probably my favorite part of this book. To be perfectly honest, I did not find the story all that interesting (in the sense that it wasn’t a particularly new or unique perspective on Tanabata for me), but I like to think it’s a nice introduction to Tanabata for nikkei kids who might not know about it.

What I learned:

• I believe I read that Fujisawa is based in France. It would be interesting to learn how she landed a contract for a children’s book in US publishing – not in the sense that there is anything wrong, but rather to determine if there are additional ways to open up illustration opportunities in the US and other North American or European markets for nihonjin artists looking to make the move. More broadly, I think about all the Asian names, including Japanese names, in the credits of animated films and shows produced in the US, and I wonder about the breakdown amongst the Japanese creators between nihonjin and nikkeijin. Are there opportunities to build stronger connections between Japanese people in Japan and Japanese people outside Japan, through careers in the arts (or art/tech), not just in terms of enabling folks to find work, but also to support cultural exchange and improved mutual understanding as the basis for a more cohesive global Japanese community?

Questions I had:

• Did any other nikkei readers feel that Keiko is presented as very white in her behavior and mannerisms? (The only especially Japanese feeling I got from her is her use of the word Oba, but in the context of the rest of her behavior, it came across as somewhat disjointed.) To be fair, I wonder if this is partly the result of writing a Japanese story in English, but we know from the work of authors like Mina Ikemoto Ghosh that it’s entirely possible to write a very Japanese-feeling story in English. I also felt this book overall was very ‘white American’ in tone and style, as if Japanese culture was ‘being presented’ specifically to white kids or to kids for whom whiteness is normalized, rather than speaking directly to nikkei kids with varying degrees of familiarity with their culture. I’m not sure if Hadley made this choice intentionally or perhaps was encouraged to do so by her publishing team, but if she did make the choice intentionally, it would be interesting to learn more about her reasons for doing so.

Follow-up:

• I wonder if Hadley has considered writing a middle grade novel – I could see her doing well at a story similar to Debbi Michiko Florence’s middle grade novels.