The Best Bad Thing
Rinko, 11, has to spend the summer of 1935 in East Oakland when her parents decide she should help widowed Mrs. Hata on her farm and with her two pesky sons. Rinko isn't happy about it; even less so when bad things start happening, from her own sprained ankle to the theft of Mrs. Hata's truck to a serious injury to one of the two boys. But something good, and surprising, has happened by the time spirited Rinko is given the option to leave: She realizes she would rather stay and help the woman who has become a friend. Moments of humor are interspersed in a novel that continues the family story begun in the book A Jar of Dreams. ©1983 Cooperative Children's Book Center
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 9-12
Age Range:
Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10)
Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Format:
Novel
Subjects:
20th Century
Empathy and Compassion
Friendship
Great Depression
Historical Fiction
Japanese and Japanese Americans
Diversity subject:
Asian
Publishers:
Atheneum, Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publish Year: 1983
Pages: 120
ISBN: 0689502907
CCBC Location: Fiction, Uchida