Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin

Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin was written by Chieri Uegaki and Qin Leng in 2014.  This modern story tells the tale of a little girl who strives to play the violin in a talent show but faces much opposition from her brother.  A unique aspect about this story is that it is centered around Javanese history and introduces readers to basic Japanese as Hana refers to grandfather throughout the text as her ojiichan.  Infusing Japanese culture throughout the text, the author uses dialogue to help the readers truly connect with Hana's emotions as she strives to overcome the fear and lack of self confidence she has for performing in public. This text is geared towards upper elementary school students as the author uses rather lengthy paragraphs on each page and it would serve as a great read aloud.  Another aspect in which to incorporate this text into the curriculum would be through teaching an integrated lesson combining the arts, ELA, and social studies as the story is based around the Japanese culture while incorporating a young girls love through music.