Rate this book

Hannah's Winter (2001)

by Kierin Meehan(Favorite Author)

3.62 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0141000449 (ISBN13: 9780141000442)

languge

English

genre

Paranormal Fantasy

publisher

Kane/Miller

review 1: “Here, read this” my mom says. “What is it?” I ask. “A book” is her reply. Gee thanks… I flip to the inside front cover. The first thing I read is “why do the beans go berserk during the bean throwing festival?” and “Why is Hannah attacked by flying donuts?” Uhh… This should be good… Hannah’s mom is a horticulturist, and when she moves to Japan to study Japanese Gardeners, she drags Hannah along with her. While Hannah’s mom travels all around Japan, Hannah stays with her mom’s friends, the Maekawas. The Maekawas have a daughter, Miki, who’s just a year older than Hannah. While Hannah is staying with Miki they get a visit from a ghost, Kai. Kai is a little boy who lived a couple hundred years ago. He needs help getting back to his fami... morely. This sends Hannah and Miki on a long journey, and they have to solve a complicated riddle. This book, for the most part, is pretty good. I really like the main character, Hannah. She reminds me of myself. She is smart, not so outgoing, violent, and sarcastic. I also liked the idea of the book. The ancient Japanese/modern times thing was pretty cool. However, I didn’t like that the villain was such an insignificant part of the plot. She only shows up two times in the whole book. And then she just disappears into the sunlight. It was… disappointing… Overall, I liked this book. I recommend it to people who like myth/history stories woven in with modern times and adventure.
review 2: Lovely, fun oddball of a book. I don't know if I've seen a better depiction in recent years of the good natured, I-don't-understand-but-let's-just-do-as-the-locals-do feeling of living in a foreign country. The fact that this feeling is sustained through a modern Japanese ghost story is impressive. Meehan manages to capture Japanese culture, especially supernatural folk beliefs, without condescending once. Any book that can describe a custom like the Bean Throwing Festival and both honor its origin and celebrate its intrinsic goofiness has my respect.Oh, and did I mention the doughnuts? A doughnut shop called the Honey House plays prominently in the story, and the descriptions of the doughnuts -- all of them unusual, including one filled with green tea ice cream -- will have you salivating all over the pages. You've been warned.One more note: who designed this big yawn of a cover? It looks like someone did an image search for "Japan winter" and slapped on whatever came up. You'd never know by looking at this that there are samauri warriors, ghosts in a mirror, and such in this book. Bah. less

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