The Wakame Gatherers

Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, National Council for the Social Studies / Children's Book Council
Children's Books of the Year, Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

A touching and timely story about a biracial girl who is excited to spend time with her American grandmother and her Japanese grandmother.

Nanami has two grandmothers: Bāchan, who lives with Nanami's family in Japan, and Gram, who lives in Maine. When Gram visits Japan, Bāchan takes her and Nanami on a trip to the seaside to gather wakame, a long, curvy seaweed that grows near the shore.

While the three assemble their equipment and walk to the beach, Bāchan explains how wakame and other seaweeds are used in Japan. Gram shares stories about how seaweeds are used in Maine, and Nanami translates for them both.

By the end of the day, Nanami's two grandmothers discover that they have much in common despite being from countries that fought in World War II, which they both remember. Looking out across the beach at surfers, dog walkers, and seaweed gatherers, they share an appreciation of this precious peace.

Holly Thompson's beautiful prose captures the exuberance of a young girl who easily traverses two cultures and languages. It also illuminates the love and understanding that grows between two older women who are so different, yet share an unbreakable bond. Kazumi Wilds's vivid paintings make the Japanese landscape and the rocky shores of Maine come alive, reminding us all that we share this earth and the peace that we create.

Publisher: Shen's Books
Published: 06/14/2022
Pages: 32
Weight: 0.25lbs
Size: 9.80h x 8.60w x 0.10d
ISBN: 9781643794594
Age: Ages 4-8

About the Author

Holly Thompson has lived for more than twenty years in Kamakura, Japan, where she likes to gather wakame and observe the harvesting of cultivated wakame. Raised in New England, she studied biology at Mount Holyoke College and fiction writing at New York University. She currently teaches creative writing at Yokohama City University in Yokohama, Japan. She writes fiction and poetry for both children and adults and is Regional Advisor of the Japan chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. You can find her online at hatbooks.com.

Kazumi Wilds was born in Tokyo, Japan, and is a picture book illustrator and a creator of artist's books. She studied traditional Japanese painting at Joshibi University of Art and Design in Tokyo and graduated from the Graduate College of the University of Iowa Center for the Book, where she earned her MFA in Book Arts. Over the past twenty years, she has published picture books in Japan, the US, and Singapore. Her artists' books are included in collections at eleven universities and an art museum in the US. Kazumi is currently teaching art courses at Temple University Japan Campus in Tokyo.