This healing, heartwarming classic Japanese novel has been getting a lot of buzz lately. I rarely do book spotlights anymore, but The Passengers on the Hankyu Line by Hiro Arikawa seems to merit it. If there's anything the world needs right now, it's healing and heart warming...

Welcome aboard the Hankyu Line train!

Come along on a heartwarming, funny, and perfectly cozy voyage with the charming and relatable passengers—including one dashing dachshund—whose lives intersect and affect each other on one of Japan’s most romantic railway lines from international bestselling author Hiro Arikawa.

Between the two beautiful towns of Takarazuka and Nishinomiya, in a stunning mountainous area of Japan, rattles the Hankyu Line train. Passengers step on and off, lost in thought, contemplating the tiny knots of their existence. On the outward journey, we are introduced to the emotional dilemmas of five characters, and on the return journey six months later, we watch them find resolutions.

A young man meets the young woman who always happens to borrow a library book just before he can check it out himself, a woman in a white bridal dress boards looking inexplicably sad, a university student heads home after class, a girl prepares to leave her abusive boyfriend, and an old lady discusses adopting a dog with her granddaughter.

With stories that crisscross like the railway lines, the Hankyu train trundles on, propelling the lives and loves of its passengers ever forward.

Thanks to the generous folks at Penguin Random House for sending me a copy of The Passengers on the Hankyu Line to spotlight and review.

As the daughter of an Army dentist, beloved author Lois Lowry spent her childhood in locations all over the world.  When Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, she was a 4-year-old living in Honolulu.  Only a few years after the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, her family moved to Tokyo, Japan.  Although Lowry knew she had been living in close proximity to the locations where two major historical events occurred, it wasn't until much later that she realized just how impactful they had been on her.  While rewatching a home movie of herself as a young child playing on a beach in Hawaii around 1939 or 1940, she noticed for the first time the ghostly image of a ship on the horizon in the background.  An acquaintance made the startling announcement that it was, in fact, the USS Arizona.  The image of the doomed vessel haunted Lowry, inspiring her to write On the Horizon.  Written in verse, her newest discusses both bombings, interspersing her own memories with the stories of other real people—both American and Japanese—whose lives were changed by what happened at Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima.

Aimed at young children, On the Horizon is presented in a clear, easy-to-read format.  Don't let its surface simplicity fool you, however, because this small book is hugely impactful.  War is an impossible subject to understand, even for adults, and reading about it can be difficult.  On the Horizon is no exception.  Lowry's verses humanize the suffering experienced at Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima, creating an emotional reading experience that is heart-wrenching and profound.  I've read hundreds of books about World War II; On the Horizon may be the one that has touched me most deeply.  It takes just minutes to read this incredible book, but its impact will linger long, long after you finish it.  The devastating effects of war should never be forgotten—Lowry guarantees they won't be with her most personal and affecting World War II book to date.  

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of other children's books about World War II, although no specific titles are coming to mind.  You?)

Grade: