Naomi is a 12-year old Canadian girl who is forced to move to a small northern town in Japan and no one asked her if she wanted to go. She left behind her friends and her beloved grandparents and her dog Billy and she is not happy about it. Everything is strange in Japan and she’s seen as a strange outsider, not even able to read or communicate at first.
Gradually, Naomi begins to learn about Japanese festivals and foods and customs. She becomes friends with Midori, a Japanese girl her age who used to live in the US. And from there Naomi’s world begins to open up even more and she learns to love Japan and the people in her village. As she learns about her new home, the readers also get to learn about the language, writing and history of Japan. It’s a sweet, calming read and I was sad to put the book down.
This is the first book in a trilogy.
In this last book of the Anika Scott series, Anika’s term at boarding school begins badly, when her classmate Sabrina announces to everyone that Anika has “an illegitimate brother who drinks.” Despite Anika’s fears, the other girls do not hold this against her, but this only makes Sabrina’s grudge against her grow. Anika feels convicted about her own anger with Sabrina, but she does not know how to stop the feud. Only after seeking Sabrina out to apologize one night does Anika discover how lonely and unloved her classmate feels. This book shows rather clearly the difference between two boarding school students – one who feels confident of her parents unfailing love, and the other who is convinced that her parents have sent her away because she interferes in their work.
Reading level: age 10-14 years
After Anika’s half-brother, Rick, arrives unexpectedly in Africa, the Scott family decides to spend some time with him at Kenya’s game parks. Still struggling to accept Rick’s arrival, Anika is even more confused when he begins to express his hostile views of Christians and Christianity. To complicate things further, fellow missionaries believe her parents should resign because Rick’s arrival has compromised their testimony. Anika’s attempt to seek help for a wounded animal have different consequences than she intends, and she and Rick find themselves in the middle of a confrontation with poachers.
Although this fourth book in the Anika Scott series does not deal with these problems in a simplistic way, the Scott family seems to give spiritual responses to questions or comments far more than most missionaries would, unless it was specifically for the purpose of expressing their beliefs to a non-Christian in their midst (as, in this case, perhaps it was).
Reading level: age `10-14 years
Anika has always longed to climb Mount Kenya, so when she has a chance to go, she is determined to make it to the top. Even her mother’s tearful response to a letter and the confusing conversation she overhears between her parents cannot distract her from her goal. But when a strange young man shows up on the mountain with them, Anika has to fight to keep her mind on the grueling climb, and when her lurking suspicions are confirmed, and she learns the young man is her half-brother, she needs to call to mind all that God taught her amidst the dangers and hardships of the climb to help her to respond in a Christlike way. This is the third book in the Anika Scott series about a Canadian MK to Kenya.
Reading level: age 10-14 years
In this second book of the Anika Scott MK series, Anika faces reentering Canada. When her family takes an unscheduled furlough because of her father’s health, Anika misses Kenya but tries to fit in in Canada. But the one person close to her age who is supposed to help her to overcome this frightening new situation is just plain mean. But her cousin Tianna has her own issues. Anika gets caught up in the problems facing Tianna whose parents are on the verge of divorce.
Reading level: age 10-14 years
Based on the experiences of the author’s mother, this is the story of a Canadian MK who grew up in Taiwan in the early 1900s. The book follows her from her early childhood in Taiwan, to Canada where she grows up with her siblings and her mother’s relatives and afterwards her mother returns to Taiwan to rejoin her father in ministry. Her reentry experience is especially poignant, as she is given the responsibility to take care of her brother in a foreign world. But is there anyone to take care of her?
Reading level: age 10-14
