Starfish

By Akemi Dawn Bowman

"Dazzling" – Bustle

"This book is a gem" – Book Riot

"The best YA debut novel of the year" – Paste Magazine

26 of the best books to read this summer 2018 – Cosmopolitan

"Utterly uplifting" – Stylist Magazine

Kiko Himura has always had a hard time saying exactly what she’s thinking. With a mother who makes her feel unremarkable and a half-Japanese heritage she doesn’t quite understand, Kiko prefers to keep her head down, certain that once she makes it into her dream art school, Prism, her real life will begin.

But then Kiko doesn’t get into Prism, at the same time as her abusive uncle moves back in with her family. So when she receives an invitation from her childhood friend to leave her small town and tour art schools on the West Coast, Kiko jumps at the opportunity in spite of the anxieties and fears that attempt to hold her back. And now that she is finally free to be her own person outside the constricting walls of her home life, Kiko learns transformative truths about herself, her past, and how to be brave.

A luminous, heartbreaking story of identity, family, and the beauty that emerges when we embrace our true selves.

Praise for Starfish:

A Junior Library Guild Selection

A William C Morris Award Finalist

New York Public Library – Best Books for Teens 2017

"In an empowering novel that will speak to many mixed-race teens, debut author Bowman has created a cast of realistically complex and conflicted characters." – Publisher’s Weekly

"Starfish is a stunningly beautiful, highly nuanced debut." – Booklist

"A book you absolutely cannot miss ... A heart-wrenching story that tackles abuse, racism and identity, making it one of the most compelling reads of the year." – Paste Magazine

"A deep and engaging story that will not only entertain but also may encourage readers to live their best lives." – School Library Journal

"I want everyone to read this book." – Brandy Colbert, author of Little & Lion

"A vibrant, complex and heartfelt story about finding your place in a sharp-edged world that never makes it easy." – Kelly Loy Gilbert, author of Conviction

"Bowman’s quietly dazzling novel gave me the sensation of looking into a mirror. This story is a knockout." – Riley Redgate, author of Noteworthy

"A brave, unfiltered look into a young girl’s attempt to find herself in the face of abuse and rejection. It will break your heart and then piece it back together again." – Sandhya Menon, New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ink Road
• Release date: Apr 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781785301889

Akemi Dawn Bowman

Akemi Dawn Bowman is a critically acclaimed author who writes across genres. Her novels have received multiple accolades and award nominations, and her debut novel, Starfish, was a William C. Morris Award Finalist. She has a BA in social sciences from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and currently lives in Scotland with her husband and two children. She overthinks everything, including this bio. Visit Akemi online at AkemiDawnBowman.com, or on Instagram @AkemiDawnBowman.

Reviews for Starfish

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

teen fiction (socially anxious, shy teen with toxic mother and a traumatic past with sexually abusive uncle, growing up Hapa in predominantly white Nebraska; dad is now remarried and rarely seen and brother is dealing with mental health issues thanks to mom).

[viviennestrauss · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

**contains spoilers"I have complicated feelings about this book - while I'm really glad Kiko found a warm, accepting chosen family, and a completely unrealistic romantic partner in the end, this to my knowledge rarely, if ever happens.Damaged people will generally end up with other damaged people. Those warm, loving, well-adjusted families will avoid you like the plague. They will be friendly but they will not welcome you into their fold, nor will they ever really understand you.****and why is there a jellyfish and not a starfish on the cover?

[Erik Prasada de Koning · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It was a beautiful story, full of wander and adventure.
The story made me cry and smile all in the span of a day.
It's truly a magnificent work and I hope to see others like it.

[sjgirl-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There’s some challenging subject matter touched on in this one, abuse, suicide, and a particularly heinous mother, but there’s also art and romance and that sometimes too elusive feeling of belonging. Kiko is distant from her brothers, her father has a new family, and her mother has always made her feel ugly and unloved, as though everything, including the breakup of their family, is Kiko’s fault. But Kiko loves to draw and paint, she loves the childhood friend who has recently reappeared in her life, and little by little, with the help of those things, and a family she wasn’t born into, maybe she can learn how to love herself.There were so many things about this one that impressed me, particularly how Kiko’s anxiety is handled, how it doesn’t magically go away, she progresses and regresses and progresses some more, and though she falls in love with a boy, there’s acknowledgment that falling in love won’t fix everything. While things work out easier for Kiko than maybe they would for some of her real-life counterparts, I actually liked that, too, I liked that her story offers hope. And I loved what this has to say about beauty, Kiko most definitely is not alone in her daily battle to look in a mirror or at a photograph and see someone beautiful, it’s beyond good for every reader to be reminded through art and words that the definition of beauty is not as narrow as other media sometimes makes us feel.

[foggidawn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Kiko longs for a mother’s unconditional love and support: a mother who is interested in her life, encourages her in her art, and believes what she says about that bad thing that happened several years back. Unfortunately, that’s not the kind of mother Kiko has. Just as the situation at home is deteriorating, an old friend walks back into Kiko’s life — one who may serve as a catalyst for change in many ways.Appropriately, for a book that is so much about artistic expression, the emotion of this book is the best part. Readers who enjoy realistic YA books about people from difficult circumstances growing and finding their place in the world are the perfect audience for this story.