This stunning graphic novel by Harmony Becker is a must-have for any library. It follows the story of Nao as she spends a year in Japan to better understand her Japanese roots. It is a beautiful story about family, friendship, and finding yourself.

This graphic novel is an everyday look about a group of international people who live together in Tokyo, Japan. Our main character is coming from America. She was born in Japan but immigrated to the US as a child. While in the US, she purposely forgot her language and culture, so she could assimilate into American society. However, upon graduating high school, she realizes that she lost her heritage and is seeking to find it again with a gap year in Tokyo. Also in the house is a girl who is coming from Korea, one who is coming from Singapore, and two boys. They are all there to learn not only Japanese but English and other things. They each have different goals such as getting a job or getting into universities, and some don’t know what they want. All they know is they are in this house together and making the best of life. Overall, this book was long and kind of boring. It’s a character study. The art is well done, but it’s not the type of story that I enjoy. It fills a gap in my reading challenges, and it did just win the Kirkus book award for best YA book of 2022.

This book is so special! I wish I had something like it while making my way out of HS--maybe I wouldn’t have felt so alone-- and that’s exactly what I think this book will be perfect for the list. Teens are excited and scared about the next part of their lives, and this gives them a look into it. Though the characters are a bit older, they are demonstrating what is to come in college, abroad, or just generally as a young adult. I loved that the author not only showed Nao’s, Hyejung’s, and Tina's growing relationship but also highlighted their internal, personal struggles that they sometimes hid from each other. This book was so organic and original. I loved it!!!!

Although I'm no longer a teen, I'm exactly the target demographic for this book! Similar to Becker, her character Nao, and other "third-culture kids" fictional and real, I frequently find myself navigating among worlds. I appreciate that this kind of displacement (or maybe exploration) is also seen through the eyes of other characters. For instance, readers are treated to background stories of how Tina and Hyejung each end up in "Sunflower House" and what motivates them in their search of self-discovery. Becker is to be especially commended for her treatment of language learning and accents, in particular. This is the first time that I've seen the complexity of language acquisition depicted so respectfully.

This slow slice of life graphic novel is beautiful. I highly recommend it. I loved the way it dealt with language.

A brilliant graphic novel about the difficulties of existing between cultures. Excellent for fans of American Born Chinese and other such graphic novels who are looking for other excellent books to tug similar heartstrings.

Moving to a new place can be hard but acceptance can be even harder. Nao is such a great character and one that readers will connect with. She is so multi-faceted and depth. Her search for acceptance from within her heritage is one that many will connect to. By allowing other characters to tell their story and take center stage, the book allows for many voices to rise and add to the dynamics of the plot. While I struggled to make out some of the text, I imagine that was intentional to have the reader feel the pressure and uneasy ness of not knowing a language fully.

Himawari House isn't the kind of book I'd probably pick up on my own if not for a committee and reader's advisory, but I'm so grateful that I did. From the level of empathy that the characters show to one another, to how authentic their interactions were, to how smoothly the lack of understanding of a non-native language was visually demonstrated, this book hit every note I could have asked for it to as a wholesome, quick read.

It's interesting to explore a person outside of their culture, trying to fit in with a place where they feel like they should belong but remain an outsider. This is more of a slow, contemplative read so it's not one for everyone.

What a wonderful look at the lives of three different, but in all ways that matter similar, girls going on a journey of self-discovery. I loved all the stories intersecting and the look at how each girl grew over the year. It felt so special, and the discussions of what it means to belong and be an outsider were very well done.

I don't know where to begin with this book! It was just so good! I don't want to do a plot summary, there's too much to describe, and at the same time, not that much. This is pure slice-of-life: the pace is slow, not that much really happens as far as events goes, just the usual, everyday stuff, but the inner workings of the characters, the emotional aspects, the growth over the story, that's where the "action" is. Each of the young women - Nao, the Japanese-American teen born in Japan but raised in the Midwestern U.S. who wants to reconnect with her Japanese heritage; Hyejung, the Korean college student who left her home and family behind to live for herself instead of fitting into someone else's expectations; and Tina, the 25 year old Chinese Singaporean who is trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life - are fully fleshed out individuals I couldn't help but get attached to, and I miss them already. The secondary cast of characters are well fleshed out too, the friendly Shinichi and brusque Masaki, two Japanese brothers that also share Himawari House, and the sweet, lonely Obaachan next door. Through these characters we feel what it's like being in a strange country, dealing with language barriers, being treated as outsiders, longing for the comforts of home while enjoying the new culture they find themselves in. We also get the more personal aspects of not knowing what you want from life, dealing with heartache, disappointment, frustration, but also joy and the comforts of found family. The speech is a mix of languages; often, the characters speak in accented English (the accents are handled respectfully, and are detailed in an author's note following the story), but Japanese, Korean, and Singlish (a language mash-up akin to Spanglish) are also used, with subtitles for translation, and blurred out words to represent words lost in translation depending on the listener's level of comprehension. As a middle-aged white woman who has never visited another country and has never experienced language barriers or been "othered" by the populace around me, I really appreciated the insights into these experiences this book gave me - I mean, isn't that why we read, to live someone else's life for a bit, to live in a world different from our own? I really enjoyed my time with these women, and I totally wanna hang out and watch K-dramas with them!

#NetGalley

This heartwarming coming of age graphic novel explores friendship, community, and finding a place to belong in such a raw way and I was left with a bittersweet feeling when I finished reading it.

I enjoyed following the journey of Noa who travelled back to Japan in the hopes of reconnecting to her roots, and Hyejung and Tina, two young women she meets in a share house, who came to Japan for their own reasons. The artwork really brought me into their lives, struggles, sadness and happiness and I didn't want the book to end. Definitely a book I will reread for years to come.

An interesting tale of how 3 people of different nationalities all came to live together in a community house (Himawari House) In Tokyo, Japan. The book explores interesting themes like belonging, the vulnerability one feels in a country that doesn't primarily speak your native tongue, and what it means to create a friend group. I think this graphic novel will be a real hit with my ESL students here at a metropolitan high school.

This graphic novel was faced-paced and a really good read! Thanks again to NetGalley and First Second for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for feedback.

This story provides details behind three foreign exchange students who live together in a Himawari House in Tokyo, all there for different reasons. On each of their journeys, they are faced with adjustments, language barriers, and starts to forever-lasting friendships. I really enjoyed seeing how each person developed over the length of the story and how they overcame their challenges near the end. What was also interesting was the fact that Harmony Becker, who illustrated George Takei’s graphic novel (which I read a few months ago), wrote and illustrated this GN! I was really excited to learn that and was immediately drawn to requesting this book.

One of the best books I read this year. I live how diverse and fully fleshed out the main girls are. They all make tough choices and grow. The cartoonish reactions were hilarious! A fantastic mix of serious and comedy. A beefy graphic novel that satisfied.

I fell in love with the art work. It was interesting to read through three perspectives exploring identity and culture in a new country. It is relatable as a coming of age story that shows the difficulties of finding your place in the world.

A glimpse into the lives of three exchange students living in Japan, Himawari House is about the friendships, frustrations, and adjustments that come with living in a new country: in this case, Japan. Nao, Hyejung, and Tina all move into Himawari House and attend the same Japanese school, but have different reasons for being there. Nao wants to reconnect to her Japanese heritage and worries about fitting in with Japanese culture. "Too Japanese" for her American life and "Too American" to Japanese classmates, she struggles with cultural identity. Hyejung, is Korean and moved to Japan to escape her overbearing parents and their unrelenting focus on her academic success. Tina is from Singapore and struggles with connection, preferring to lose herself in fandom. Although Nao's story is the main driver, Hyejung and Tina have fully realized, moving backstories, all explored here, along with their roommates, two Japanese brothers with widely differing personalities. The group all come together and live here at Himawari House, and the story is a slice of life look into a year in their lives, as they all live and work side-by-side, eat, fall in and out of love, go to school, and talk late into the night. The language barriers are expertly illustrated here - largely bilingual, Japanese characters appear in many word bubbles; the dialogue has a blend of English, Japanese, Korean, and Singlish (the English Creole spoken in Singapore), with a brilliant explanation of the use of accents in the story at the end. Black and white artwork is largely realistic, with Chibi renderings to communicate extreme emotion. It's a well-done character study and will be popular with teens and young adults. 

Himawari House has starred reviews from Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, and School Library Journal.

My thanks to NetGalley and First Second Books for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

Lovely artwork, nice coming-of-age story set in Japan. My only quibble is that since I was reading on a smaller screened device, I wasn't able to get the full effect of the artwork and I think I missed some flashback memory scenes that confused me, as I wasn't able to make out much detail and wasn't sure who the characters in the scenes were.

I would recommend this in real book format, or read it on a larger screened device so you don't miss anything.

I like how the three MC hs were all from different cultural backgrounds and how they were all open and welcoming of each other and their languages, food, etc. I will probably never get to live for a year in Japan and I will never have the background of these characters, but for a moment, I was able to imagine being in their shoes and able to try to understand how they felt and thought. I appreciate being able to do that, if only for a moment.

The ending was very bittersweet and I hope that she gets to travel there and see them all again.

3 solid stars. Recommended if you enjoy coming of age stories.

A phenomenal book expertly exploring language acquisition, identity, and relationships. Becker’s demonstration of the process of being in a new language environment as well as the process of learning a new language is engaging, accurate, and thought-provoking. Highly recommend this incredible book.

This story follows three girls living in Japan, all there to escape something or find something, or maybe they're doing both. Readers will relate to the characters quest for self discovery and their need for belonging. Those who have been to Japan will appreciate the subtle easter eggs in the the background, names of stores, etc.