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A 2024 Mildred L. Batchelder Award Honoree

A 2024 USBBY Outstanding International Book

One of Kirkus Reviews' 10 Essential Middle-Grade Books for Fall 2023 -- Starred Review

One of Kirkus Reviews' Best Middle-Grade Family Stories of 2023

A 2023 Cybils Awards Finalist for Speculative Middle Grade Fiction

From the author and translator of the Batchelder Award-winning novel Temple Alley Summer comes the moving story of three generations of women adapting to their new home, and its mythical inhabitants, in the tragic aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake disaster.

In the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami, Yui, fleeing her violent husband, and Hiyori, a young orphan, are taken in by a strange but kind old lady named Kiwa in the small town of Kitsunezaki​​. The newly formed family finds refuge in a mayoiga, a lost house, perched atop a beautiful cape overlooking the sea. While helping to rebuild Kitsunezaki, the three adapt to their new lives and supernatural new home, slowly healing from their troubled pasts. Kiwa regales Yui and Hiyori with local legends--from the shapeshifting fox-woman who used to roam the mountains, to the demon Agam and a sea snake who once terrorized the townspeople, preying upon their grief and fears until they trapped the snake and the demon's claws in an underwater cave.

But when mysterious and sinister events start happening around town, the three fear the worst. Did the earthquake release Agam and the sea snake into the world again? Kiwa, Yui, and Hiyori join forces with a merry band of kappa river spirits, a bold zashiki warashi house spirit, and flying Jizō guardian statues to save their new family and home and banish Agam and the snake once and for all. Now a hit anime film, The House of the Lost on the Cape is a heartwarming tale about the strength of family and friendship in the face of natural and mythical forces.

About the Author

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Sachiko Kashiwaba is a prolific writer of children's and young adult fantasy whose career spans more than four decades. Her works have garnered the prestigious Sankei, Shogakukan, and Noma children's literature awards, and her novel The Marvelous Village Veiled in Mist influenced Hayao Miyazaki's film Spirited Away. Her works have recently been animated as the films The Wonderland and The House of the Lost on the Cape. Her novel Temple Alley Summer, illustrated by Miho Satake and translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa, won the American Library Association's 2022 Mildred L. Batchelder Award, was a July/August 2021 Kids' Indie Next Pick, and a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. She lives in Morioka, Iwate.Yukiko Saito is a graphic designer and illustrator originally from Aomori, Japan. She studied textile arts in the fine arts and crafts teacher training program within the Faculty of Education, Iwate University. She lives in Iwate Prefecture.Avery Fischer Udagawa grew up in Kansas and studied English and Asian Studies at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. She holds an MA in advanced Japanese studies from the University of Sheffield. She has studied at Nanzan University, Nagoya, on a Fulbright fellowship, and at the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies, Yokohama. She writes, translates and works in international education near Bangkok, where she lives with her bicultural family.

Praise For…

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Temple Alley Summer:

“This imaginative tale, enchantingly written and charmingly illustrated by veteran Japanese creators for young people, has a timeless feel. Its captivating blend of humor and mystery is undergirded with real substance that will provoke deeper contemplation. Udagawa’s translation naturally and seamlessly renders the text completely accessible to non-Japanese readers. An instant classic filled with supernatural intrigue and real-world friendship.”
—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review, Best Middle Grade Fiction of 2021

“When an author and an illustrator with ties to books adapted to renowned Studio Ghibli masterpieces such as Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away join forces on a middle-grade fantasy adventure, you can count on it being something truly special.... Beautifully translated, this sweet tale has a story-within-a-story tied in to convey a theme of living a full life with no regrets, and it nicely reflects one village elder's changing attitude. Satake's crisp illustrations are sprinkled throughout the book and add to the magical atmosphere of the story. Her exquisite, immediately engaging cover art, too, will certainly lure in readers. Heartwarming with a supernatural touch, this beautifully captures the magic of childhood.”
—Kristina Pino, Booklist, Starred Review