Ayumi's Violin

Ayumi’s Violin is wonderful book. Like Charlottes Web by E B White it’s especially for younger people but it’s a story that’s a joy to read no matter your age. Like Charlottes Web, Ayumi’s Violin has much to say about living a worthwhile life. From page one you are drawn into Ayumi’s life and want to keep reading, to keep enjoying Ayumi’s life as she lives it and overcomes challenge after challenge beginning with the loss of her mother, the tensions of adapting to a stepmother and stepsister, adapting to an alien culture, and to racial tension. Seeing Ayumi overcome the difficulties in her life will certainly inspire any young person who faces the similar problems. The author does a masterful job of bringing out Japanese culture as the story unfolds. You learn for example about the Japanese Zen notion of Gaman - enduring the seemingly unendurable with patience and dignity. I am convinced everyone has some talent to bring out as Ayumi did her music and that talent will enable them to better overcome adversity. Ayumi's Violin dramatizes, not preaches, how talent born of passion, dedication, hard work can pull a person through hard times.

Have you ever moved to a new place, felt surrounded by different faces, lost amid unfamiliar customs? Aching, poignant, and yet ultimately uplifting and inspiring, in Ayumi’s Violin author Mariko Tatsumoto looks through the eyes of a girl overwhelmed by tragedy, sent to live in a world she doesn’t understand. She tells Ayumi’s story with warmth, sensitivity, and heart.Ayumi's Violin strikes a stark contrast between cultures, but also similarities. There is racism: Ayumi finds ridicule and rejection both as a half-gaijin in Japan, and in post-WWII California as a half-Japanese child. In Japan's impoverished economy she is taught the nobility of humility and self-denial, while in America's booming economy she witnesses gross excess and crass consumerism. And still, she also encounters beauty, generosity, and sacrifice in both countries.In lovely prose, the book will touch you, inform you, and warm your heart. Your family will come to love Ayumi’s Violin and read it over and over again.

I think I'd recommend to not judge this book by its cover. I started reading last night and from the cover, expected a much less sophisticated and engaging voice...but what I got was a pretty compulsively readable story with the quiet, earnest, and heartfelt voice of a biracial Japanese girl suddenly thrust into middle class white Californian society .Ayumi's mother dies, forcing her to leave her home in Japan and travel by ship to Pasadena to live with the father she had never known. Being biracial in post-WWII 1950's wasn't easy. Even before Ayumi gets on the ship she has been bullied for being "American" in Japan. On the ship she is called "ainoko" or love-child by the captain, and despite the warm love of her father, her new stepmother and sister are not pleased to see her.There is bullying in the schoolyard, Ayumi's unfamiliarity with American culture, her love of classical music and her violin that her stepmother won't let her play in the house, and new found friendship with other marginalized people-- Mexican housekeeper and her grandson Diego who yearns to become an artist in the same way Ayumi wants to be a musician--and the navigation of how far Ayumi will go both in "gaman" (or bearing up under difficulty) the blatant racism around her and also what she will do to keep her music.Up until Ayumi makes a fateful decision that goes against the quiet dignity her mother has instilled with her, I was all in for this book. It reads smoothly, Ayumi is super-engaging, the racism present in her everyday world an important aspect of U.S. history kids and adults should be familiar with.Once Ayumi makes the bad decision, things get a little bit harder for me to invest emotionally in. Without spoiling the latter half of the book, let me just say that a famous person gets involved, along with a local priest, and these two along with Ayumi's father are so quick to forgive Ayumi and explain away her behavior that it didn't sit right with me.The punishment for her betrayal of Diego and her bad decision is literally--playing her violin. And it was a little hard for me to stomach the complete reversal stepmother and stepsister had without equating it (as Diego did) to Ayumi's violin talent.Still...despite these quibbles I did read the book all in one night unwilling to set it down because I had to find out what would happen to Ayumi and Diego. And the everyday incidents of racism (being called "jap" by neighbors, folks in a restaurant unwilling to sit next to Ayumi, boys calling her father a commie, etc) quite poignantly drawn and disturbing in a way that is necessary for the people of the U.S., particularly children, to be aware of.I would totally recommend this as thoughtful, informative, and engaging reading for children 8 and older. And although I read it as an adult, I imagine its geared mostly for the 8-15 age range.

Our family (kids ages 15, 12, and 11) read this book aloud together. They remained interested from the first page to the last. We loved that we learned so much about the interesting culture of Japan and that the book clearly showed the natural results of materialism, dishonesty, and selfishness. We didn’t agree with all the author’s values (it is natural for 2 people who love each other to have a child, regardless of whether they are married) but the book was a great conversation starter for us about those topics. It generated much good discussion with our older kids. And many of our family values (honesty, hard work, sensitivity to others, importance of family) were reflected here. We also appreciated the honest perspective it gave of racism. My family understood this in s new way after reading about it from Ayumii’s point of view. We are seeking out more books by this author.

This is a lovely little book that gives the reader a vivid picture of what it must have been like in post WWII America for anyone who was of Japanese descent. It also goes to the core of many issues that plague society today, such as bullying and snobbishness. I am not a young reader, but I enjoyed the book immensely and I believe that it will appeal to all age groups. It tells the story of a half Japanese girl who comes to America and tries very hard to fit in with her schoolmates, but finds that it is not as easy as it should be. However, she finds a few people who believe in her, and her music wins over anyone who is still a doubter. Very entertaining, heartwarming, and wonderfully written!

This book is about a 12 yr old girl from Japan. When she is forced to leave her beloved country and travel to America she faces discrimination, cruelty and despair. Trying to fit in with her new family is very hard. The only thing that keeps her from falling apart is her precious violin. When she plays it all her worries go away. How will the Japanese girl cope with living in strange and different America? Please read this fascinating book. I would definitely recommend for +10.