“Not Paradise but Close Enough” by Helen Oyakawa will be displayed at the LA Times Festival of Books 2022
Helen creates a story that ventures into the beautiful state of Hawaii.
This book shows how hard it was to please some parents in the past.
“Not Paradise but Close Enough” by Helen Oyakawa will be displayed at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on April 23-24, 2022, at the University of Southern California campus, Los Angeles, CA. Sixth-grade Esther wished her parents would tell her just once that they were proud of her. But in Hawaii’s rural coffee-growing village of Kona in 1938, Japanese-American parents had high expectations for their children, and were afraid to spoil them with praise.
Esther worked hard to earn good grades, but her snarky behavior occasionally got her in trouble. She pledged this year would be different, and she prepared a strategy: if her parents just bought her a piano she’s always wanted she’d behave herself.
New people arrived in town. Heads turned and gossip became unavoidable. Esther enjoyed her new classmates and teacher from Pennsylvania, but she was terrified they’d reject her. She then met Shirley, a new student who wanted Esther to be her best friend.
Both Miss Owen and Shirley departed Kona, leaving the little village small and bland again until Esther’s safety was threatened. Her father blamed the newcomers Filipino workers for her danger. Esther confronted her father as rumors spread among the Kona community. She had to persuade him of the truth before old prejudices caused more problems. What would happen next? Learn more and grab a copy of “Not Paradise but Close Enough” by Helen Oyakawa available at Amazon and visit the upcoming LA Times Festival of Books 2022.
Not Paradise but Close Enough
Author | Helen Oyakawa
Genre | Literature & Fiction
Publisher | Kindle Direct Publishing,
Published date | August 17, 2015
Author
Helen Oyakawa was born and raised in Kona Hawaii. She became a teacher in Hawaii and California. She is the mother of four children and wife of a United Church of Christ pastor, now retired. She is the author of the novel, “Home” about a Japanese-American family who relocated from California to Oklahoma in the 1940s instead of being interned in a World War II detention camp.
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