Which Cynthia Kadohata novel won the 2005 Newbery Medal?

The Cynthia Kadohata novel that won the 2005 Newbery Medal is Kira-Kira.

Published in 2004, Kira-Kira follows Katie Takeshima, a Japanese American girl growing up with her family in Georgia during the 1950s. The novel explores sibling love, racism, labor conditions, poverty, illness, and the ways a child makes sense of painful changes in her family.

The title means “glittering” or “shining” in Japanese, a word Katie’s older sister Lynn uses to describe beautiful things. That recurring idea gives the novel its emotional center and helps explain why the story remains associated with hope as well as grief.

The Newbery Medal was announced in 2005 for books published the previous year. The Thing About Luck later won the 2014 Newbery, while Cracker! and Weedflower were not the 2005 medal winner, despite also being novels by Kadohata.