Kiko is distant from her brothers, her father has a new family, and her mother has always made her feel ugly and unloved, as though everything, including the breakup of their family, is Kiko’s fault. There’s some challenging subject matter touched on in this one, abuse, suicide, and a particularly heinous mother, but there’s also art and romance and that sometimes too elusive feeling of belonging. And now that she is finally free to be her own person outside the constricting walls of her home life, Kiko learns life-changing truths about herself, her past, and how to be brave.įrom debut author Akemi Dawn Bowman comes a luminous, heartbreaking story of identity, family, and the beauty that emerges when we embrace our true selves.

So when she receives an invitation from her childhood friend to leave her small town and tour art schools on the west coast, Kiko jumps at the opportunity in spite of the anxieties and fears that attempt to hold her back. With a mother who makes her feel unremarkable and a half-Japanese heritage she doesn’t quite understand, Kiko prefers to keep her head down, certain that once she makes it into her dream art school, Prism, her real life will begin.īut then Kiko doesn’t get into Prism, at the same time her abusive uncle moves back in with her family.

Kiko Himura has always had a hard time saying exactly what she’s thinking. “One of the most compelling reads of the year.” - Paste MagazineĪ half-Japanese teen grapples with social anxiety and her narcissist mother in the wake of a crushing rejection from art school in this “stunningly beautiful, highly nuanced debut” ( Booklist, starred review). “An empowering novel that will speak to many mixed-race teens.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review) A New York Public Library Best Book for Teens of 2017

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