I remember reading this book. I think I read it several times, and if i am remembering correctly two years later now, I really enjoyed it, though it was a bit sad.

I love the theme in this story and the way it was woven through this sweet story. The illustrations were also very lovely.

Lovely #ownvoices story. Perfect for sharing with young children. I used it in conjunction with a spring study while talking about flowers. It could also be a great for a world travel study.

Written in the sparse style of Japanese poetry, and accompanied by artwork that recalls Japanese watercolor, Sakura's Cherry Blossoms by Robert Paul Weston is a beautifully rendered tale of love, loss, and cultural upheaval.

Moving to a new country is a huge step. You leave behind all that is familiar, trading it for the strange and unknown, especially if the culture and language is so very different. Sakura's family move to America, leaving her grandmother behind in Japan. She is sad over leaving her grandmother, but is befriended by a boy named Luke, who cheers her somewhat. He teaches her stargazing. She teaches him about flowers. But then she has to return to Japan because her grandmother is very ill. When she comes back to her new home, she is very sad, and doesn't want to play. She's afraid of forgetting her grandmother, without the cherry tree. Luke tells her to wait til spring, and she'll get a surprise. Spring brings with it, not one, but hundreds of cherry trees where she now lives!

Okay, this left me with tears in my eyes. It's not explicitly stated that grandmother passed, but implied. Soooo sad! My cubs agreed, though we all enjoyed the story and its lessons. My favourite picture was the starry tree. This is an excellent addition to any children’s shelf!

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin/ Tundra for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

'Sakura's Cherry Blossoms' by Robert Paul Weston and Misa Saburi is a really nice picture book about love and friendship and loss.

Sakura lives in Japan and loves spring when she and her grandmother can have lunch beneath the cherry trees as they blossom. Her life changes when her family moves to the United States. She tries to fit in, but everything is so different. She makes a friend with a neighbor boy who likes to look at the stars. Along the way, they teach each other about looking up and enjoying the transience of life and cherry blossoms.

What a beautiful story filled with really cute illustrations. The book is even composed in a series of Tanka verses and this is explained in the back of the book. Between the pictures and the story, I really loved this seemingly simple picture book.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Tundra Books, Penguin Random House Canada, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

Title: Sakura’s Cherry Blossoms
Author: Robert Paul Weston
Illustrated by Misa Saburi
Genre: Picture Book
Theme: Friendship, Grandparents
Interest Level: K-3

Sakura shares a special bond with Obaachan, her grandmother. They spend beautiful spring days beneath the Cherry Blossom tree eating their picnic lunch. Obaachan says, “This time is made more special spent with friends.” They share stories and Sakura basks in her grandmother’s love. Sakura feels sad and empty when her family must leave Obaachan for a job in America. She meets a neighbor named Luke who helps her explore and discover her new surroundings. Sakura and her family eventually travel to visit Obaachan who is ill and when they return to America, Sakura worries she might forget Obaachan. When the cherry blossoms burst into bloom in the spring, she knows that Obaachan will forever be in her heart and memories. Highly Recommended.

This gentle story of family and friendship is touching. Weston uses the Tanka poetry style, which he explains in an author’s note. Teachers will find many curricular connections in this text.
Use this story to introduce similes.
“Whose voice was warm, like sunshine” P.2
“Clouds so fluffy and pale, like rice scooped from Obaachan’s pot.” P.6
“It’s craters were like wide eyes watching the whole world at once.” P.9
“Flowers are like stars” “They blossom, sparkle, and then they fade, so we trreasure them because one day they vanish.” P. 10
Is she thinking of Obaachan as she makes this connection?
Words “flipped and curled from her mouth as effortlessly as breath.” P. 12

Written by Robert Paul Weston and illustrated by Miso Saburi, Sakura’s Cherry Blossoms tells us the story of Sakura, who must leave her beloved Obaachan when her father get transferred to the States for work. When she arrives in this strange country, with words that feel “like the tang of pickled plums” in her mouth, she is lonely. She longs for spring days beneath the cherry blossoms with Obaachan. Slowly she makes a friend named Luke who finally makes her feel at home. Sadly, Sakura must return to Japan when Obaachan falls gravely ill. When she returns to the States she is very sad and spends the whole winter missing Obaachan until the weather warms. Luke has a wonderful surprise for Sakura in the spring.

Sakura’s Cherry Blossoms is such a rich book full of poetic language. Being it is written in a series of Tanka poems, traditional Japanese poems with five lines and thirty-one syllables, it is apropos the story be filled with simile and metaphor, rich descriptive language to invite the reader into Sakura’s world. It is also a story of displacement and navigating a whole new world and a whole new language. It’s about making new friends and how through sharing with friends, new places can begin to slowly feel less lonely, more like home. Finally, it is a story about grief and the sadness of losing someone close, about how to remember them and cherish all the beautiful memories made in their time. The incredibly beautiful, fluid and inviting art by Miso Saburi brings the story to life. Saburi portrays all the beauty of the cherry blossoms and the sadness of Obaachan’s illness so effectively in her art. It’s a beautiful book you will want to immediately grab off the bookshelves.
Sakura’s Cherry Blossoms not only inspires the reader to create his or her own Tanka poems, but also encourages heading out to explore the beauty of cherry blossom season. We are fortunate in Toronto to have a vivid cherry blossom season in our very own High Park, which attracts people by the thousands. This book is the perfect companion to the newly blossoming season of renewal.

I thought the story was kind of meh and didn't get to a solid conclusion. Admittedly, this may be the typically flow of Japanese poems from my limited study. I didn't even realize this was written in the tanka style until the author's note at the end. This made this book (thank you, NetGalley) a more interesting teaching lesson. I can see a resourceful teacher reading this book to a class (yes, I do picture a bunch of restless kiddies on the circle time carpet because it isn't an exciting story and less than mildly moving for me -- but paired with the right questions to get the kids' EQ going, might create a decent lesson) and then explaining how you can use this poetry style to create a whole story. So, I like the possibilities of what the author has created, but I think the content was lacking a bit.

A lovely book about a girl, who misses her grandma and the cherry blossoms they use to sit under. After a move to America, she befriends Luke who helps her find her own cherry blossoms, and true friends. The illustrations are gorgeous, and each page of hate story is a Tanka, a traditional Japanese 5 line poem of 31 syllables. A lovely book.

This small storybook shows us the sweet relationship between grandma and her granddaughter, Sakura. The small girl moves out of Japan and being away from grandmother makes her unhappy. Other than that, the book also focuses on cultural difference and being homesick. At the end of the book, it is said that the whole book is written as Tanka ( Japanese poem writing style ) and that's very interesting.

I like the story and the illustrations are so sweet.

Sakura’s Cherry Blossoms is written through a series of Tanka poems , a traditional Japanese poem. The poem style is applied flawlessly throughout the book, and though it has few pages this book covers a lot of ground.
The story is about Sakura, who relocates with her family to America, and her meeting with the everyday in a foreign country with a new culture and a new language. It gives a view of how she misses her old home and her grandmother, but still becomes a sweet story about friendship.
The illustrations in this book is beautiful and varied, they compliment the story excellently. It is an excellent story, very suitable for young readers between 3 - 7 years.

This story was unusual in that is written in a series of tanka poems. I enjoyed it! It didn't feel forced and flowed nicely to tell a tale of a little immigrant girl moving to the states because of her father's job. She returns to Japan when her grandmother is dying and worries when she comes back that she will forget her (they always had lunch under a cherry tree). But there is a surprise that will bring her comfort soon after she returns to the states. Lovely illustrations, too! It's a gentle grieving story for young children.

Sakura's Cherry Blossoms is a beautifully illustrated story about change and learning to adjust to the circumstances that life throws at you.
I received a copy through from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sakura has a special relationship with her grandmother. When she has to move to America and leave her and her cherry blossoms behind she is very sad. She has a hard time adjusting to her new home, but with the help of the little boy next door, she manages. When her grandmother gets ill, they go back to Japan to see her. Sakura is very sad when she returns to her new home and does not want to play with her friend. IN the spring she sees all the cherry blossoms and knows that she will never forget her grandmother.

This is a very sweet story dealing with the death of a loved one. It is important that children know they will not forget them. It also deals with friendship and how a good friend can help in so many ways. The illustrations are delightful and add a gentle feeling to the story. This book will help children who are feeling sad due to loss of a loved one or the loss of their home and old friends. The story was written in the poetry format of Tanka and gives a description of what they are at the end of the book. A nice addition to a family, school or public library.

Je pense que ce livre peut être vraiment super pour faire découvrir l'anglais à des enfants en bas âge ou simplement pour lire une histoire à un enfant qui comprend déjà l'anglais. Il est vraiment très doux et les illustrations sont magnifiques, assez différentes de ce que je vois d'habitude dans les livres pour jeunes enfants. Ce roman parle du sentiment d'isolement, d'être loin de chez soi, mais le fait avec une touche de tendresse et d'espoir qui m'a mis le sourire aux lèvres tout au long de ma lecture.

A story of a young girls move across the ocean to American and adjusting to a new life and finally feeling at home again among the cherry blossom trees.
Lovely illustrations. I think it needed a pronunciation guide for some of the words.

Death in children's books is a common theme, but this was an interesting way to approach it. Sakura, which means cherry blossom, has to move to America and leave her grandmother and her cherry blossoms behind.

She adjusts, in, what looks like, San Francisco, but it could be anywhere that has hills and Victorians.

Sakura misses the cherry blossoms and misses her grandmother. She makes friends with a boy who likes to look at stars.

<blockquote>"Flowers are like stars,"
said Sakura. "They blossom,
they sparkle, and then

they fade, so we treasure them
because one day they vanish."</blockquote>

This is a forewarning of the death of her grandmother, who she rushes back to Japan to visit one last time.

And then, back in America she sees cherry blossoms blooming that Spring. (So perhaps it is Washington DC that she went to?)

Very sweet story, and written entirely in something called a tanka poem. A bit like haiku, but with two additional lines.

Good, sweet, gentle story that will appeal to children suffering both loss of home, and well as loss of homeland, because it all comes around to a peaceful ending.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

This little story is about Sakura, a Japanese girl whose life is transplanted from Japan to America. She misses her grandmother, Obaachan and the little things they would do together in the spring when the cherry trees were blooming. Sakura finds learning a new language to be a bit tricky, as English sounds are very different from Japanese words. Her new little friend Luke is helping her adapt to her new life in America, such as making snow angels (I adore the snow angel picture!)

The story is written in a series of traditional tanka poems. A lovely little book that teaches children that, although learning a new language and culture can be difficult, it can have it's own rewards and joys.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

This book seemed really cute and adorable, so I had to request it when I spotted it on Netgalley. And boy, this book was much more than just cute and adorable. It also caused me to cry a bit.

Sakura, a little girl from Japan, is moving to the US due to her father and his job. She isn't happy with it, she misses her grandma, she misses the cherry blossoms, she misses her words. She has to learn a whole new language, words she cannot pronounce easily. Neko becomes cat, sora becomes the sky.

Thankfully for Sakura there is a boy next door who is kind, friendly, and helps her out when she feels unhappy. He has his ways. Sakura loves the fleeting cherry blossoms, and he loves the stars. Both of them connect, and I was just happy for Sakura. Finally she had a friend, finally she could make this place a new home.

But, sadly, something happens to her grandma. And it had me in tears. I cannot imagine how hard it must be to not be able to be there for her, not only for Sakura but also for Sakura's parents. To only be there for a short while before having to go back again.

You can imagine that Sakura returns in sadness, but thankfully she has a wonderful friend who has a surprise coming for her, she just has to wait for it. And the surprise was wonderful.

Yes, I loved this book, it deals with subjects like moving to a new country, sickness, missing people, making a new place home, friendship, all the while without making it too heavy.

The art is pretty decent, not entirely my style, but I still found it quite pretty at times.

All in all, I would recommend this book to everyone.

This was a gorgeous little book, I loved the images and the story was excellent. I can see this being a firm favourite and I loved the way it showed how important friendship can be - 5 stars