Sachiko Means Happiness

Sachiko—"happiness" in Japanese—is the name shared by a young girl and her beloved grandmother. Over the years, Grandmother has changed, and now, childlike herself, she hardly recognizes her granddaughter Sachiko. Set within a Japanese American family, the story shows how Sachiko's initial irritation with her grandmother's erratic, seemingly inexplicable behavior changes to compassion and tact. Sachiko Means Happiness is a sensitive, touching treatment of relationships between generations and how they shift as they are faced with the problems of aging. Recommended for all children by the Alzheimer's Society.

Kimiko Sakai is a librarian and writer based in Tokyo, Japan. She began to study writing during a year in which she spent cataloging Japanese books at the University of California, Berkeley. This is her first book published in the United States in English.

Tomie Arai has spent nearly two decades working in New York neighborhoods as a muralist and community artist. Her work has appeared in numerous Asian American women's anthologies and is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children.
 

Themes: Contemporary Stories, Family/Intergenerational

Related Books: A Place Where Sunflowers Grow, Two Mrs. Gibsons, China’s Bravest Girl
 

"Sakai's spare prose gives the subject the dignity it deserves, while Arai's dynamic illustrations enhance the book's emotional appeal. Sachiko Means Happiness is an example of some of the fine books being produced by smaller publishers." —Publishers Weekly

"Like many children's book authors, Sakai accomplishes with a few hundred words what adult fiction writers struggle to capture in several thousand or more." —The Bloomsbury Review

"This perceptive glimpse of one Japanese family's loving response to the grief of Alzheimer's is illustrated with richly glowing pastels in a realistic style emphasizing the drama between child and grandmother. Promising debuts for both author and illustrator." —Kirkus

"A simply told, understated story of young Sachiko's acceptance of her grandmother's Alzheimer's disease is illustrated in warm, sunset tones, with insets featuring traditional Japanese motifs. The story is touching without being sentimental." —The Horn Book Magazine