The Takeshima family experiences several life changing events that turns their world upside down as they are forced to move from a Japanese community in Iowa to southern Georgia in the 1950's. The inseparable sisters, Lynn and Katie, discover the world through friendship, dreams, poverty, and discrimination; but the love that bonds them together remains unbroken as their family life is interrupted by an addition to the family and a change in their parent's employment conditions which allows less time for the children and more required time at work. When Lynn is struck with a terminal illness, Katie is forced to change her role as the little sister and begin caring for Lynn. She struggles to remember what Lynn had taught her, to view the simple things in life as glittering "kira-kira".

This book is an excellent piece of literature for fifth through middle school aged students to experience. The themes of love, hope, death, and discrimination provide the reader with opportunity to explore life through a young Japanese girl's eyes as she attempts to hold her family together during the struggles of life. This book will touch the hearts of viewers as the Takeshima family learns to appreciate the little things in life.