First Second

Himawari House, Paperback/Harmony Becker

A young adult graphic novel about three foreign exchange students and the pleasures, and difficulties, of adjusting to living in Japan. Living in a new country is no walk in the park--Nao, Hyejung, and Tina can all attest to that. The three of them became fast friends through living together in the Himawari House in Tokyo and attending the same Japanese cram school. Nao came to Japan to reconnect with her Japanese heritage, while Hyejung and Tina came to find freedom and their own paths. Though each of them has her own motivations and challenges, they all deal with language barriers, being a fish out of water, self discovery, love, and family. About author(s): Harmony Becker was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is the illustrator of George Takei's graphic memoir They Called Us Enemy . She currently lives in Mexico City.