Sakura’s Cherry Blossoms by R. Weston

Abstract

Weston, Robert Paul. Illus. Misa Saburi. Sakura’s Cherry Blossoms. Tundra Books, 2018.

Sakura, a little girl whose name means “cherry blossom”, shares picnics and stories with her grandmother under the cherry blossom tree near their home in Japan. When Sakura and her mother and father immigrate to North America while her grandmother remains in Japan, the little girl deals with the challenges of adjusting to life in a new country and grieving when her grandmother dies. As the seasons change and spring returns, Sakura comes to understand her grandmother’s wisdom about the importance of friendship. Themes of intergenerational relationships, mourning the loss of a family member, cross-cultural friendships, and the healing power of time all are represented in this book.

Author Robert Paul Weston uses a poetry approach to storytelling, a call-back one of his earlier books, Zorgamazoo. This time, the author presents Sakura’s Cherry Blossoms as a series of Tanka, a traditional Japanese non-rhyming form of poetry whose spare and brief structure is well-suited to depicting each event in the story. Weston includes an explanation of Tanka at the end of the book and encourages young readers to create their own poems following this format.

The text and illustrations introduce readers to linguistic and cultural aspects of Japan, including traditional foods, clothing, games, and names. It captures the sense of loneliness, disconnection and culture shock people can experience in a new environment, and gently depicts the gradual healing process, culminating in Sakura blossoming with renewed energy, wisdom, and happiness.

Highly Recommended: 4 out of 4 stars
Reviewer: Maria Tan

Maria is a health sciences librarian at the University of Alberta and a former editorial team member of the Deakin Review. She is the co-author, with Sandy Campbell, of A Selective Collection of Children’s Health Fiction 2014 – 2016, described in the Volume 6 (3) issue of the Deakin Review.