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The Thing about Luck Cynthia Kadohata. New York: Atheneum, 2013, 270 pages. Grades 6 to 9. ISBN 978-1-4169-1882-0. National Book Award, "Best Book" lists in SLJ and PubWkly.
Of the contemporary, realistic books, Kadoha- ta's The Thing about Luck surprised us the most by how much solid informa- tion we gained from read- ing Kadohata's warm and fascinating story not only about the big-time har- vesting of wheat in such states as Kansas and Texas, but also about child labor, mosquitoes, malaria, cross-generational family relationships, the blend- ing of Japanese and American family values, and how skilled immigrants come from Europe to work during the crucial few weeks in which the great American wheat crop must be harvested. The book starts with a page and a half of "Acknowledgments" where Kadohata thanks the members of a family in Kansas and a family in Texas who own and manage custom harvesting companies. Not only did they let her "badger them constantly" with questions but they also patiently answered her emails and read the manuscript multiple times to catch parts that could be misinterpreted. One of the companies even...