IPSWICH, Mass., January 23, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- As an American kid growing up in Japan, Author Fran Kramer experienced first-hand the successes, fears, and joys of learning about a new culture. "The Traveling Sketchbook: An American Kid Discovers Japan" (now available through 1stBooks Library) is a fictional account of her true-life experiences in Japan.
"The Traveling Sketchbook" is set in 1950s postwar Japan, a country rich in culture, spirituality, and history that is trying to return to some sense of normalcy. Answering the simple question "What is it like for a kid to move to a foreign country?" "The Traveling Sketchbook" is about learning, growing, and changing. Life in a foreign country is a journey of excitement and adventure as a New World opens before your eyes. While a new language and new customs must be learned, the thrill of the unexpected never truly disappears.
Ten-year-old Anne Kruger and her two brothers, Bob and Rickie, are at the center of this inspirational journey. Children and adults alike will find themselves caught up in the brisk narrative and brilliant characters as the Kruger children make friends with their Japanese neighbors, attend international schools that require long train rides to the schoolhouse, and learn about typhoons, earthquakes and more in their new home.
Proving that life really is about the living, "The Traveling Sketchbook" shows how pain and joy come side-by-side as death and disaster are experienced along with friendship and fun. At first Japan is a world that seems upside-down and opposite, but the reality is that people are people and the kids will all find their place among the Japanese.
Author Fran Kramer began writing "The Traveling Sketchbook" in 1989 after she was unable to find books on children integrating into a foreign culture. While there were plenty of books about foreign children acclimating themselves to America, almost nothing existed on the opposite side of the spectrum.
Kramer has had a life-long love affair with Asia. After living in Japan for a brief time as a child, she returned as an adult working for Maryknoll, The Catholic Foreign Mission Society. Her work promoting the Hospice Movement and better care for terminally ill people included facilitating bereavement groups, and giving talks to physicians and health-care providers. She has both a Bachelor's and Master's in Asian Studies.
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