Orchards

by Holly Thompson
Lexile: ???
Genre: Poetic Novel

Ruth is dead and Kana feels partly responsible. Kana and her group of 8th grade friends never realized how hurtful their actions were until Ruth went to the orchard, alone, for the last time. Kana's family thinks it's best if she spends the summer with her relatives in Japan. Kana doesn't want to go and spend the summer working in the orange groves with people she doesn't know. But once she's there, she learns some things about herself, has time to think about Ruth, and about how she's going to move her life forward.