Early ReviewersSuzanne Kamata

Divorced American mom Lauren Murata has stumbled into a university job teaching Home Economics at a conservative Japanese women’s college with a dwindling student population. Although she has achieved success as a “domestic goddess,” she is actually a scholar of gender studies. She meets widower dad Kazu Mori at her daughter's international school holiday bake sale. Mori manages talent, including a famous pop star who has just broken away from a popular all-male J-pop group. They discover that their children are good friends.

The couple – and their kids – start going on playdates to iconic sites around Tokyo. They visit the pandas in Ueno Zoo. They go ice skating at Tokyo SkyTree. As their attraction to each other grows, they both try to figure out how to get out of the "friend zone" and move from playdates into real dates. But when a hashtag about Kazu’s famous client goes viral, putting both and Kazu's and Lauren's careers at risk, their relationship begins to crumble.

"A lyrical, compelling coming-of-age story with magical elements." -- Kirkus Reviews Elise Faulkner is more at home in the waters of her beloved Lake Michigan than on land where her beauty queen mom is always on her back about her lack of a social life; her sister is dating the boy of her dreams; her favorite penpal--the one who wrote about mermaids in Ghana--has gotten married and ended their correspondence; and no one's allowed to talk about her glamorous great-grandmother, the deep-sea wreck diver. Elise is biding her time with books until she can flee. But then crazy Chiara Hanover pops into her life, as does Miguel, a mysterious carnival worker whose dark future has been predicted by a gypsy.

At sixteen, Trudy Baxter is tired of her debutante mom, her deadbeat dad, and her standing reservation at the juvenile detention center. Changing her name to Trudy Sin, she cranks up her major chops as a singer and starts a band, gathering around other girls ill at ease in their own lives. Cassie Haywood, would-have-been beauty queen, was scarred in an accident in which her alcoholic mom was killed. But she can still sing and play her guitar, even though she seeks way too much relief from the pain in her body and her heart through drugs, and way too much relief from loneliness through casual sex. Still, it's Cassie who hears former child prodigy Harumi Yokoyama playing in a punk band at a party, and enlists her, outraging Harumi's overbearing first-generation Japanese parents. The fourth member is Esther Shealy, who joins as a drummer in order to be close to Cassie--the long-time object of her unrequited love--and Harumi, her estranged childhood friend. Together, they are Screaming Divas, and they're quickly swept up as a local sensation. Then, just as they are about to achieve their rock-girl dreams, a tragedy strikes.

Stories that affirm the indelible bond among humans and animals The relationships among human and non-human animals go back to the beginning of time—and the ways in which these relationships have evolved (and sometimes not) is the inspiration for this collection of contemporary short fiction, penned by writers from across the globe. This diverse collection of stories explores the ways in which we live among—and often in conflict with—our non-human counterparts. These stories feature animals from the familiar (dogs and cats) to the exotic (elands and emus), and in these stories animals are both the rescuers and the rescued. Within these pages are glimpses of the world through the eyes of a zookeeper, a shelter worker, a penguin researcher, and a neighborhood stray, among many others—all highlighting the ways in which animals and humans understand and challenge one another. Among Animals is a dynamic collection of stories from the world’s most gifted contemporary authors—those who pay close attention to the creatures with whom we share our planet, and who inspire us to pay closer attention as well. NOTE: Reviewers will be offered a choice of eBook formats.

ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS meets STONER AND SPAZ Aiko Cassidy is fourteen and lives with her sculptor mother in a small Midwestern town. For most of her young life Aiko, who has cerebral palsy, has been her mother's muse. But now, she no longer wants to pose for the sculptures that have made her mother famous and have put food on the table. Aiko works hard on her own dream of becoming a great manga artist with a secret identity. When Aiko's mother invites her to Paris for a major exhibition of her work, Aiko at first resists. She'd much rather go to Japan, Manga Capital of the World, where she might be able to finally meet her father, the indigo farmer. When she gets to France, however, a hot waiter with a passion for manga and an interest in Aiko makes her wonder if being invisible is such a great thing after all. And a side trip to Lourdes, ridiculous as it seems to her, might just change her life. Gadget Girl began as a novella published in Cicada. The story won the SCBWI Magazine Merit Award in Fiction and was included in an anthology of the best stories published in Cicada over the past ten years. "Gadget Girl is like a Japanese garden whose beauty reveals itself little by little. And the more attentive you are, the greater the beauty revealed. Aiko's journey toward acceptance of her uniqueness, which includes that which the world deems imperfect, is told with subtlety and humor. You are going to enjoy reading this book." - Francisco X. Stork, author of MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD "Suzanne Kamata has created a memorable character in Aiko--a unique girl balancing the desire to be ordinary and extraordinary. Though she's dealing with some difficult obstacles in her life, her desire is particularly relevant and universal to the adolescent experience. An absorbing tale about adversity, art, love, and the courage to accept one's self and others. A pleasure to read!" - Veera Hiranandani, Author of THE WHOLE STORY OF HALF A GIRL

Rendered with tenderness, humor, and an insider's knowledge of contemporary Japan, Losing Kei is the story of a love affair between an American expatriate artist and a tradition-bound Japanese family man. Melding the off-kilter cultural misunderstandings of Lost in Translation with the wrenching family drama of Kramer Versus Kramer this beautifully written first novel marks the debut of an exceptional expatriate voice.

Yomimono is a literary journal published in Japan featuring writing by expatriates and Japanese writers in translation. Issue #15 includes fiction by Marcus Bird, Edward Black, Marian Pierce, Ann Tashi Slater, Morowa Yejide, and Shogo Oketani (translated by AVery Udagawa); poetry by Gregory Dunne, Judy Halebsky, Taylor Mignon, and Jane Joritz-Nakagawa. The cover art is by Joanne G. Yoshida.

Bilingual picture book about a bicultural family in Japan, warmly illustrated by Yuka Hamano. Excerpt: "The game is about to begin and Mama comes with a bowl of peanuts. She says that baseball's an American sport, and in her country, people eat peanuts while they're watching a game. "Papa's team has made it all the way to the semi-finals. If they win today, they can participate in the Japanese naitonal tournament at Koshien Stadium."

What happens when your child doesn't speak your native language? How do you maintain cultural traditions while living outside your native country? And how can you raise a child with two cultures without fracturing his/her identity? From our house to your house - to the White House - more and more mothers are facing questions such as these. Whether through intercultural marriage, international adoption, or peripatetic lifestyles, families these days are increasingly multicultural. In this collection of original essays, women around the world ponder the unique joys and challenges of raising children across two or more cultures. Contributors include Rose Kent, Xujun Eberlein, Marie Lamba, Violeta Garcia-Mendoza, and Leza Lowitz.

Responding to a dearth of literary writing on disability, Suzanne Kamata gathers parents' perspectives at various stages in the lives of children with mental or physical difficulties. In these real and fictional stories, families cope with autism, deafness, retardation, muscular dystrophy, and more, laying bare the moments of rage, disappointment, and guilt that can color their relationships. Parent/child communication is a challenge at the best of times, but here we see the epic struggles and triumphs of those who speak their own language--or don't speak at all--and those who love them. Together, the authors--including Michael Bérubé, Jayne Anne Phillips, Penny Wolfson, Carol Zapata-Whelan, Marie Myung-Ok Lee, and Bret Lott--paint a beautiful, wrenchingly honest portrait of what it means to care for a child who does not experience the world as we do. The book serves as a site of quiet contemplation amid the swirling issues of medical research and disability rights, and the writers come clean about the complications of even the deepest love.