The Best Bad Thing (Aladdin Historical Fiction) by Yoshiko Uchida

The Best Bad Thing (Aladdin Historical Fiction) Reviews

• 
  Sonia Gomes

  Rinko #2
  When Mrs. Tsujimura’s friend, Mrs. Hata, loses her husband, she just cannot cope; there is the sadness of losing a loved one, the entire crop of cucumbers to be harvested and two very naughty sons, Zenny and Abu, to be taken care of...
  Mrs. Tsujimura decides to send her daughter during the summer holidays as a Help. It is amazing how the Japanese rush to help one another in times of crisis. And crisis does descend on the Family.
  The naughty little boys, Zenny and Abu, play a very dangerous game of jumping on and off freight cars and during one such game, Abu is very badly injured, Mrs. Hata rushes him to the hospital where he just about makes it.
  When Mrs. Hata goes to get her little truck loaded with the harvested cucumbers she finds it gone, stolen, the produce too stolen.
  Rinko’s parents rush to help Mrs. Hata, sadly we are not told how Mrs. Hata copes...
  Rinko was supposed to spend only a part of her holidays at Mrs. Hata’s and her parents ask her if she would like to go home, but unsurprisingly knowing how the people of Japan never let their friends and family down, Rinko refuses to come home.
  She now loves Mrs. Hata and cannot imagine leaving her alone with the harvest and Abu so very ill.
  
  Strangely, the Kenny Rogers’s song played in my mind...
  "You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille
  With four hungry children and a crop in the field
  I've had some bad times, lived through some sad times
  But this time your hurting won't heal
  You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille"
  Yes, the Japanese never desert their friends and family in times of crisis. I am greatly humbled...
  
  The illustrations in this book are beautiful, just about amazing.
  
  
  
  
• 
  Rachel B

  I loved the movie version of this as a kid - I'm hoping the book is even better!
• 
  Lisa

  The Best Bad Thing is a good story about an 11 year old Japanese American girl whose mother makes her move in with a needy (and possibly crazy?) widow for a month to help out. Apparently even in the 1930s, moms made their kids do things they didn't want to do, little brothers were a pain in the you-know-what, and undocumented immigration was a contentious issue. Good book--but now I'm hungry for
  onigiri!
• 
  Sella Malin

  yoshiko uchida is a great historical fiction writer. she writes about historical things that are interesting and go with the story well. i enjoy all her books.
  
  i liked the sequel to A Jar of Dreams; it was about not judging people by their first impressions, because there maybe something much nicer on the inside.
• 
  Hendrix Eva

  Lovely, heartwarming
• 
  Edith

  Rinko is a young Japanese American girl who enjoys life and is at that age where she’s trying to figure things out, mostly herself. She’s got a very strong, assertive mother who has such a good heart that she volunteers Rinko to live with a family friend who really needs an extra set of hands for the next month or so. Rinko doesn’t want to go, but she’s been raised to perform without complaint and she rises quite well to the occasion. Uchida deftly writes a coming of age story that is filled with several underlying themes that never weigh the story down. Uchida was the first Nissei (Japanese born American) to write about Japanese culture for young people. She wrote more than 30 books before passing away in 1992. May she rest in peace.
• 
  Cws

  JAR4-Uch