Misa Sugiura

Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature * 2018 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults * 2018 Rainbow Book List * A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2017 "Well-paced, brimming with drama, and utterly vital."—Kirkus (starred review) This charming and bittersweet coming-of-age story featuring two girls of color falling in love is part To All the Boys I've Loved Before and part Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Sixteen-year-old Sana Kiyohara has too many secrets. Some are small, like how it bothers her when her friends don’t invite her to parties. Some are big, like the fact that her father may be having an affair. And then there’s the one that she can barely even admit to herself—the one about how she might have a crush on her best friend. When Sana and her family move to California, she begins to wonder if it’s finally time for some honesty, especially after she meets Jamie Ramirez. Jamie is beautiful and smart and unlike anyone Sana’s ever known. There are just a few problems: Sana's new friends don't trust Jamie's crowd; Jamie's friends clearly don't want her around anyway; and a sweet guy named Caleb seems to have more-than-friendly feelings for her. Meanwhile, her dad’s affair is becoming too obvious to ignore. Sana always figured that the hardest thing would be to tell people that she wants to date a girl, but as she quickly learns, telling the truth is easy…what comes after it, though, is a whole lot more complicated.

It's Not Like It's a Secret

For fans of Jenny Han, Morgan Matson, and Sandhya Menon, critically acclaimed author Misa Sugiura delivers a richly crafted contemporary YA novel about family, community, and the importance of writing your own history. The author of the Asian Pacific American Award-winning It’s Not Like It’s a Secret is back with another smartly drawn coming-of-age novel that weaves riveting family drama, surprising humor, and delightful romance into a story that will draw you in from the very first page. Katsuyamas never quit—but seventeen-year-old CJ doesn’t even know where to start. She’s never lived up to her mom’s type A ambition, and she’s perfectly happy just helping her aunt, Hannah, at their family’s flower shop. She doesn’t buy into Hannah’s romantic ideas about flowers and their hidden meanings, but when it comes to arranging the perfect bouquet, CJ discovers a knack she never knew she had. A skill she might even be proud of. Then her mom decides to sell the shop—to the family who swindled CJ’s grandparents when thousands of Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during WWII. Soon a rift threatens to splinter CJ’s family, friends, and their entire Northern California community; and for the first time, CJ has found something she wants to fight for.

This Time Will Be Different

Love & Other Natural Disasters

Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind

In the next book in the thrilling fantasy series filled with gods and monsters of Shinto mythology, a twelve-year-old girl must steal an ancient relic, work with new friends and learn to control her own dangerous power to defeat a new threat. After vanquishing a demon king, saving her mom, and reconnecting with her friend Danny, Momo ought to be living the life she's always wanted. But lately, Danny has been ditching her to hang out with mean-girl Ryleigh—and groups of kids have begun vanishing without a trace. Then a whole backyard full of cool kids at Ryleigh's exclusive birthday party becomes the latest to disappear, leaving Momo, Ryleigh, Danny, boy band superstar Jin, and Momo's old friend Niko the fox to fight a dangerous new enemy from Shinto legend. This time they are up against Tamamo-no-mae—beautiful, bloodthirsty, and manipulative, she's the ultimate mean girl of the Kami-verse. To defeat her, Momo must travel to the Sky Kingdom and steal the legendary Mirror of the Sun. But if she’s going to survive monster ambushes, escape giant snakes, and pull off the heist of the millennium, Momo will have to find a way to work with her team (even Ryleigh), and grapple with the growing power that connects her with her storm god grandfather, Susano'o', and her greatest foe—Izanami the Destroyer.

Momo Arashima Breaks the Mirror of the Sun

A thrilling fantasy series about a twelve year old girl who sets out to save her Shinto goddess mother—and the world—by facing down demons intent on bringing chaos. “A grand adventure.” —Brandon Mull, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Fablehaven “A wild ride of a novel…hilarious.” —Sayantani DasGupta, New York Times bestselling author of The Kingdom Beyond All Momo wants for her twelfth birthday is an ordinary life—like everyone else's. At home, she has to take care of her absentminded widowed mother. At school, kids ridicule her for mixing up reality with the magical stories her mother used to tell her. But then Momo’s mother falls gravely ill, and a death hag straight out of those childhood stories attacks Momo at the mall, where she’s rescued by a talking fox . . . and “ordinary” goes out the window. It turns out that Momo's mother is a banished Shinto goddess who used to protect a long-forgotten passageway to Yomi—a.k.a. the land of the dead. That passageway is now under attack, and countless evil spirits threaten to escape and wreak havoc across the earth. Joined by Niko the fox and Danny—her former best friend turned popular jerk, whom she never planned to speak to again, much less save the world with—Momo must embrace her (definitely not "ordinary") identity as half human, half goddess to unlock her divine powers, save her mother’s life, and force the demons back to Yomi.

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Read the second book in a thrilling new fantasy series for readers aged 9+ - perfect for fans of Skandar and the Unicorn Thief, Dragon Mountain and Mia and the Lightcasters! Momo Arashima just wants an ordinary life. But she's about to become legendary . . . After vanquishing a demon king, saving her mum, and reconnecting with her friend Danny, Momo ought to be living the life she's always wanted. But lately Danny has been ditching her to hang out with mean-girl Ryleigh - and groups of children have begun vanishing without a trace. So when a whole group from Ryleigh's exclusive birthday party becomes the latest to disappear, Momo and her friends (including Niko the fox) are left to fight a dangerous new enemy from Shinto legend. This time they are up against Tamamo-no-mae - beautiful, bloodthirsty and manipulative, she's the ultimate mean girl of the Kami-verse. To defeat her, Momo must travel to the Sky Kingdom and steal the legendary Mirror of the Sun. But if she's going to survive monster ambushes, escape giant snakes, and pull off the heist of the millennium, Momo will have to find a way to work with her team (even Ryleigh), and grapple with the growing power that connects her with her storm god grandfather and her greatest foe - Izanami the Destroyer . . . See what readers are saying about Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind: 'If you love books with action, adventure and a heartwarming spirit, as well as many twists and turns as a bowl of ramen, this book is absolutely perfect for you' - Amaya, aged 10, LoveReading4Kids reviewer 'I loved this funny, complex and exciting story! The action never stops as the author brilliantly blends adventure with Japanese folklore to deliver a barnstorming novel, with themes of adventure, family and identity' - School librarian, Reading Zone reviewer 'Misa Sugiura's Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind has all the hallmarks of a fantasy classic . . . edge-of-your-seat energetic, with comic moments and emotional depth' - LoveReading4Kids reviewer

Momo Arashima book 2

Read the first book in a thrilling new fantasy series for readers aged 9+ - perfect for fans of Skandar and the Unicorn Thief, Dragon Mountain and Mia and the Lightcasters! Momo Arashima just wants an ordinary life. But she's about to become legendary . . . At home, Momo cares for her mother; while at school, her classmates tease her for mixing up reality with the magical stories her mother used to tell her. But when a terrifying death hag attacks Momo, she realizes the stories are true - Momo's mum is a Shinto goddess who used to protect the gate to Yomi, the land of the dead. Now that passageway is under attack, and countless evil spirits threaten to escape and destroy humanity. Momo - joined by a talking fox called Niko, and her former best friend, Danny - is the only one who can stop them. Can Momo embrace her identity as half-human, half-goddess to unlock her powers, force the demons back to Yomi - and save the world?

A thrilling, funny middle-grade fantasy series about a girl who sets out to save her Shinto goddess mother—and the world—by facing down demons intent on bringing chaos. Perfect for fans of the Aru Shah and Fablehaven series. All Momo wants for her twelfth birthday is an ordinary life—like everyone else's. At home, she has to take care of her absentminded widowed mother. At school, kids ridicule her for mixing up reality with the magical stories her mother used to tell her. But then Momo’s mother falls gravely ill, and a death hag straight out of those childhood stories attacks Momo at the mall, where she’s rescued by a talking fox . . . and “ordinary” goes out the window. It turns out that Momo's mother is a banished Shinto goddess who used to protect a long-forgotten passageway to Yomi—a.k.a. the land of the dead. That passageway is now under attack, and countless evil spirits threaten to escape and wreak havoc across the earth. Joined by Niko the fox and Danny—her former best friend turned popular jerk, whom she never planned to speak to again, much less save the world with—Momo must embrace her (definitely not "ordinary") identity as half human, half goddess to unlock her divine powers, save her mother’s life, and force the demons back to Yomi.

Misa Sugiura

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