Your Name by Makoto Shinkai

Recently Matt (my youngest son) has introduced me to light novels. Light novels are generally written before the author/artist writes the Manga. I enjoy watching anime, but I'm not a fan of manga because for me it takes so much work to decode all the pictures. I love words, so light novels are right up my alley. I definitely want to get some of these for my classroom. 

Your Name by Makoto Shinkai was published in 2016 and has a manga and anime that go with it. This story has two main characters: Mitsuha, a high school girl who lives in a small mountain town, and Taki, a high school boy living in Tokyo. 

They begin to have what they think are dreams about each other even though they've never met - except they aren't dreaming. They are switching places. These switches are sometimes comedic and sometimes confusing for both of them. Will they ever be able to meet in person, or will the stars get in their way? I loved the symbolism of threads and cords in this novel and how the author wove everything together. 

I enjoyed reading about Japanese culture and look forward to visiting there sometime when they reopen to tourism. 

Quotes I liked: "Joinin' threads is a called musubi. The passage of time is musubi. It's the name for our god, and the god's power. It describes the braided cords we make, divine acts, and the flow of time itself" (59). 

"Puttin' anything in your body is also called musubi. What you put in your body binds to your soul. . ." (60).

The anime that goes with this book is beautiful, so if you get a chance to watch it, do. 

 Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Link to our NICU book registry to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.