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Description
Author: Sachiko Kashiwaba | Illustrator: Yukiko Saito
A 2024 Mildred L. Batchelder Award Honoree
A 2024 USBBY Outstanding International Book
One of Kirkus Reviews’ 10 Essential Middle-Grade Books for Fall 2023 ― Starred Review
One of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Middle-Grade Family Stories of 2023
A 2023 Cybils Awards Finalist for Speculative Middle Grade Fiction
From the author and translator of the Batchelder Award-winning novel Temple Alley Summer comes the moving story of three generations of women adapting to their new home, and its mythical inhabitants, in the tragic aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake disaster.
In the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami, Yui, fleeing her violent husband, and Hiyori, a young orphan, are taken in by a strange but kind old lady named Kiwa in the small town of Kitsunezaki. The newly formed family finds refuge in a mayoiga, a lost house, perched atop a beautiful cape overlooking the sea. While helping to rebuild Kitsunezaki, the three adapt to their new lives and supernatural new home, slowly healing from their troubled pasts. Kiwa regales Yui and Hiyori with local legends―from the shapeshifting fox-woman who used to roam the mountains, to the demon Agamé and a sea snake who once terrorized the townspeople, preying upon their grief and fears until they trapped the snake and the demon’s claws in an underwater cave.
But when mysterious and sinister events start happening around town, the three fear the worst. Did the earthquake release Agamé and the sea snake into the world again? Kiwa, Yui, and Hiyori join forces with a merry band of kappa river spirits, a bold zashiki warashi house spirit, and flying Jizō guardian statues to save their new family and home and banish Agamé and the snake once and for all. Now a hit anime film, The House of the Lost on the Cape is a heartwarming tale about the strength of family and friendship in the face of natural and mythical forces.
About the Author
Sachiko Kashiwaba is a prolific writer of children’s and young adult fantasy whose career spans more than four decades. Her works have garnered the prestigious Sankei, Shogakukan, and Noma children’s literature awards, and her novel The Marvelous Village Veiled in Mist influenced Hayao Miyazaki’s film Spirited Away. She lives in Iwate Prefecture.
About the Illustrator
Yukiko Saito is a graphic designer and illustrator from Aomori, Japan. She studied textile arts at the teacher training program of fine arts and crafts at the Iwate University, Faculty of Education. She currently lives in Iwate Prefecture.
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