Following the seventieth anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, this is a new, very personal story to join Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. Yuriko was happy growing up in Hiroshima when it was just her and Papa. But her aunt Kimiko and her cousin Genji are living with them now, and the family is only getting bigger with talk of a double marriage! And while things are changing at home, the world beyond their doors is even more unpredictable. World War II is coming to an end, and since the Japanese newspapers don’t report lost battles, the Japanese people are not entirely certain of where Japan stands. Yuriko is used to the sirens and the air-raid drills, but things start to feel more real when the neighbors who have left to fight stop coming home. When the bombs hit Hiroshima, it’s through Yuriko’s twelve-year-old eyes that we witness the devastation and horror. This is a story that offers young readers insight into how children lived during the war, while also introducing them to Japanese culture. Based loosely on author Kathleen Burkinshaw’s mother’s firsthand experience surviving the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, The Last Cherry Blossom hopes to warn readers of the immense damage nuclear war can bring, while reminding them that the “enemy” in any war is often not so different from ourselves.

Each year, the flowering of cherry blossoms marks the beginning of spring. But if it weren’t for the pioneering work of an English eccentric, Collingwood “Cherry” Ingram, Japan’s beloved cherry blossoms could have gone extinct. Ingram first fell in love with the sakura, or cherry tree, when he visited Japan on his honeymoon in 1907 and was so taken with the plant that he brought back hundreds of cuttings with him to England. Years later, upon learning that the Great White Cherry had virtually disappeared from Japan, he buried a living cutting from his own collection in a potato and repatriated it via the Trans-Siberian Express. In the years that followed, Ingram sent more than 100 varieties of cherry tree to new homes around the globe. As much a history of the cherry blossom in Japan as it is the story of one remarkable man, The Sakura Obsession follows the flower from its significance as a symbol of the imperial court, through the dark days of the Second World War, and up to the present-day worldwide fascination with this iconic blossom.

Looks at the life cycle of a cherry tree, the history behind the gift of the Japanese cherry trees to our nation's capital, and the association of cherry trees and spring.

Sometimes, something happens in your life that changes everything. When Sasha was six, her dad died suddenly and the world changed forever. Now she's twelve, it feels like things are changing all the time: her twin brother hardly talks to her any more, her mum's dating a teacher from school, her best friend Lily keeps going on about boys ... and Sasha doesn't feel ready for any of it. Why can't things just stay the same? The one place she can escape to is Blossom House, her secret place – an old, echoey, overgrown, beautiful, empty mansion, where the only thing that changes is the weather and the flowers in the garden. There's just one problem: it isn't hers. And even a house can have secrets ...

Michiko Minagawa's father is exiled and she and her family must move to a desolate internment camp in the middle of British Columbia, where she must deal with the prejudices of her schoolmates.

'" It''s time for Yamada''s university entrance exams, and she''s super nervous! All her hard work is about to be put to the test. Will she get to follow her dreams and join Kase-san in Tokyo come spring? "'

Finally, we have a book that adopts orphans and foster children into a family of love. This book is titled "Memories of a Cherry Blossom Tree" and it was written by Fletcher Johnson Jr. His book is based on fictional accounts of children who came from various backgrounds of abuse, neglect, abandonment and displacement. Readers will experience elements of love, joy, peace, and compassion. This book contains multiculturalism, drama, poetry, a recipe and a dinner theater menu. It is a book for all ages. This is a tribute to all social service agencies, educators, adoptive and foster parents around the world. This story takes place during the year of 1908 in a city called, "Macon," which is located in the heart of Georgia. Some call it "Central Georgia". The events unfold in an orphanage home known to many as "Stillwater's." The name alone represents "Peace." The Lady in Pink established the home for those children who were abandoned, abused, neglected, or had no place to turn. She had domestic and international ties to agencies that screened and listed prospective parents who were seeking to adopt children. While the children waited, she nurtured them with love, poetry, and plenty of care. After all of the children became adopted, the Lady in Pink passed away some years later. She was laid to rest underneath the Cherry Blossom Tree where the women once sang and played as orphan girls. The women built a new Orphanage and began having annual Cherry Blossom festivals as way of paying tribute to the Lady in Pink.