I loved Kira- Kira. When I read this book for a book report, I had to write a review, here's what I wrote:
Dreamy, imaginative, and fearlessly observant, Lynn is a golden combination of older sister, best friend, and personal hero for Katie, who is four years younger. Katie's earliest word, "kira-kira," meaning "glittering" in Japanese, is Lynn's favorite, and the source of many discussions about what--the sea, sky, and eyes, especially--best merits this treasured adjective. Exceptionally close, the Takeshima sisters spent time playing in corn fields around their Iowa home, and scheming about the sky-blue house they longed to own before the loss of the family store drove them to stay with relatives in Georgia, a hostile place for Japanese-Americans in the 1950s. With both parents working punishing hours at the bleak, oppressive poultry plant, Katie must care for Lynn when she begins a long, harrowing fight with lymphoma. As Katie struggles to remain buoyant in a wash of sadness, the notion of "kira-kira" becomes more important than ever.