Sand Chronicles, Volume 1

by Hinako Ashihara

Overview

Can the sands of time heal all wounds?

Twelve-year-old Ann and her divorced mother move from big city Tokyo to her mother's rural hometown. As the years pass, Ann learns to trust and depend on her new friends—Daigo and aristocratic siblings Fuji and Shika. But when Ann moves back to Tokyo to be with her father, will she be able to maintain a long-distance relationship with Daigo?

After her parents get divorced, Ann Uekusa and her mother move from Tokyo to rural Shimane. Accustomed to the anonymity of city living, Ann can't get used to the almost overbearing kindness of the people in her mother's hometown. But when personal tragedy strikes, Ann discovers how much she needs that kindness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421514772
Publisher:	VIZ Media LLC
Publication date:	01/01/2008
Series:	Sand Chronicles Series , #1
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	209,110
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	13 Years

About the Author

Hinako Ashihara won the 50th Shogakukan Manga Award for Sunadokei (Sand Chronicles). She debuted with Sono hanashi Okotowari Shimasu in Bessatsu Shojo Comics in 1994. Her other works include SOS, Forbidden Dance, Ten-nen Bitter Chocolate.

Editorial Reviews

In this standout shojo manga, 12-year-old Ann Uekusa and her mother have been abandoned by Ann's debt-ridden father and forced to move from Tokyo to Ann's grandparents' home in Shimane. At first, Ann feels both oppressed by her mean grandmother and totally out of place in a small town, but once she makes some friends she adapts quickly. When her disillusioned and demoralized mother commits suicide, Ann leans on Daigo, the first boy her own age that she met in Shimane, and their budding romance becomes the story's focus. The book's second half jumps ahead 18 months to a summer camp where Ann deals with a rival scheming for Daigo's affections. Ashihara deals sensitively with her characters' emotions, giving the book a measure of depth and subtlety amid the expected shojo elements (expressionistic backgrounds, romantic complications, and occasional silly bits of business). Her artwork has improved markedly since her earlier series Forbidden Dance, with more delicate lines and more attractive, better-proportioned figures. Rated for older teens by Viz (a subplot concerns Ann's period, and there's one sexual situation involving adults), this ten-volume, true-to-life series is recommended for all collections.
—Martha Cornog

Library Journal

Gr 8 Up

After her parents' divorce, 12-year-old Ann and her mother move from Tokyo to the country to live with her grandmother. Shortly thereafter Ann's mother, plagued by depression and a drinking problem, kills herself. Ann finds comfort in her new friends Fuji and Daigo. By age 14, she has developed a huge crush on Daigo and become closer to Fuji, who has caught his philandering mother with another man. The teen worries about her period, which stopped right after her mother died. This is a sensitive story about the passing of time and the many rites of passage of adolescence. The characters are drawn with flowing lines and luminous eyes, adding to the book's wistful, contemplative tone.-Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library, NY

School Library Journal