Jasmine Toguchi, Bridge Builder: 7

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With more than 150,000 copies sold, this seventh book in an award-winning chapter book series takes Jasmine to the island of Kabo, Japan, for the Obon Festival. Eight-year-old Japanese-American Jasmine Toguchi and her family travel to the small island village of Kabo, where her grandmother once lived. There she meets her great aunt, and stays in her family home near a quiet beach, surrounded by an orange grove. Although Jasmine is homesick for friends back home and mad at Sophie for being “no fun,” she soon grows to love Kabo after catching bugs with her dad, cooking with her mom, picnicking at the beach, and attending the Obon Festival in her vibrant yukata (summer kimono). In typical Jasmine fashion, she only gets into a little trouble along the way. With her trademark humour, Japanese-American author Debbi Michiko Florence weaves together social-emotional learning topics with exciting new places, family adventure, and cultural appreciation.

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In the seventh book in the Jasmine Toguchi series, Debbi Michiko Florence and illustrator Elizabet Vukovic takes us on a family adventure in Kabo, Japan full of warmth, laughter, and summer fun. Japan is awesome but Jasmine is beginning to miss home and her best friend, Linnie. She's hoping her next adventure to a village called Kabo, where her grandmother grew up, is just what she needs to get out of this rut. Jasmine is pleased to find out there's a beach, tangerine grove, and even a local festival to attend. She is hoping to explore with her big sister, Sophie. But, walnuts! Sophie is no fun. All she wants to do is read her Japanese manga and stay inside. If Jasmine's best friend Linnie was there, she'd definitely play with her, so why won't Sophie? Regardless, Jasmine is determined to make the most of her time in Japan, only getting into a little trouble along the way.