What qualities earned Kira-Kira the Newbery Medal?

Kira-Kira won the Newberry Medal in
the year 2005. The Newberry Medal is given by the ALSC, or the Association for Library
Services for Children, to their choice of best original story. Kira-Kira
reunites the qualities that the ALSC observes in order to select a story for
the John Newberry Medal.

These quality indicators
are:

• Interpretation of the theme or
  concept


• Presentation of information including accuracy,
  clarity, and organization


• Development of a
  plot


• Delineation of
  characters


• Delineation of a
  setting


• Appropriateness of
  style.

Kira-Kira is a
fictional story about a Japanese family that struggles in America. The delineation of
each of the characters is quite clear and realistic. The situations through which the
characters struggle go hand in hand with the setting of the story:  A rural town during
the 1950’s, during a period in American history when there was a collective feeling of
“Anti-Japanese sentiment”. The style in which the story is narrated conveys the personal
feelings of the characters and helps to explain the intensity of their emotional and
social struggles. Furthermore, the story presents a social situation that was real and
had not been written about before for this specific genre and
audience.

It is very likely that the reason why this story
won in 2005 is because the Newberry committee saw a combination of historical, social,
and literary value in this story.