The Language Inside
Description
Emma Karas was raised in Japan; it's the country she calls home. But when her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer, Emma's family moves to a town outside Lowell, Massachusetts, to stay with Emma's grandmother while her mom undergoes treatment. Emma feels out of place in the United States.She begins to have migraines, and longs to be back in Japan. At her grandmother's urging, she volunteers in a long-term care center to help Zena, a patient with locked-in syndrome, write down her poems. There, Emma meets Samnang, another volunteer, who assists elderly Cambodian refugees. Weekly visits to the care center, Zena's poems, dance, and noodle soup bring Emma and Samnang closer, until Emma must make a painful choice: stay in Massachusetts, or return home early to Japan.
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Person
HOLLY THOMPSON grew up in New England. She earned a BA in biology from Mount Holyoke College and an MA in English with a concentration in creative writing from New York University. A longtime resident of Japan, she teaches creative writing at Yokohama City University. Her previous young adult novel, is Orchards.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Chapter 1 Aura
- Chapter 2 The Afterwards
- Chapter 3 Gone
- Chapter 4 Cleanup
- Chapter 5 The Next Minute
- Chapter 6 Beads
- Chapter 7 Seawall
- Chapter 8 Filling
- Chapter 9 Patients
- Chapter 10 S-e-x-y M-a-n
- Chapter 11 Ghosts
- Chapter 12 Luck
- Chapter 13 Slipping
- Chapter 14 Breasts
- Chapter 15 Pizza
- Chapter 16 Hey
- Chapter 17 Noodles
- Chapter 18 Running
- Chapter 19 L-a-t-e
- Chapter 20 Camfood
- Chapter 21 Sweet and Sour
- Chapter 22 Yet
- Chapter 23 American Treasures
- Chapter 24 Fear and Hope
- Chapter 25 Sci-fi
- Chapter 26 Yes Yes Yes
- Chapter 27 Tubes
- Chapter 28 Costume
- Chapter 29 Mermaid
- Chapter 30 Fishing Dance
- Chapter 31 Americans
- Chapter 32 Maybe Couple
- Chapter 33 Daughters and Sons
- Chapter 34 Loss
- Chapter 35 Path
- Chapter 36 Seeing the Buddha
- Chapter 37 Seven Times Down
- Chapter 38 Tanko Bushi
- Chapter 39 Cranes
- Chapter 40 Ever
- Chapter 41 Workshop
- Chapter 42 Corner
- Chapter 43 Wish
- Chapter 44 Plunging
- Chapter 45 Hanuman
- Chapter 46 Plum Island
- Poetry Mentioned in The Language Inside
- Recommended Resources
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
