cover image The Happiness of Kati

The Happiness of Kati

Jane Vejjajiva. Atheneum Books, $15.95 (139pp) ISBN 978-1-4169-1788-5

First novelist Vejjajiva creates a sensuous Thai setting as a backdrop to the mysteries with which nine-year-old Kati grapples. Readers learn about the daily rhythms of the small town on the water where Kati lives with her grandparents, their elaborate preparations for meals and for collecting water, trips to the Buddhist shrine and Kati's schoolday, as well as exotic flowers and fauna. Her mother's absence creates a pervasive emptiness for Kati, until her grandmother asks if she wants to see her mother. The girl then learns that her mother suffers from ALS (or Lou Gehrig's disease). The text contains dramatic tales, such as how her mother accidentally set four-year old Kati out to sea and resolved to separate from her in order to protect her after that. The narrative offers a familiar message about happiness being tied to home. ""There could be no happier place than home, and the house on the water was truly Kati's home."" Unfortunately, because the girl's relatives reveal most of the answers for which she searches (rather than Kati searching for them herself). Kati never fully emerges from the shadow of her family members. The choice she makes in the end, however, offers a true surprise and confirmation of the heroine's inner strength. Ages 9-12.