Full Cicada Moon

Mimi Yoshiko Oliver is the 13-year-old daughter of a Japanese mother and African American father. She dreams of becoming an astronaut. Raised amongst her Japanese cousins in the racially diverse Berkeley, her family’s move to Hillsborough, Vermont, in 1969 places Mimi in situations that force her to come to terms with “what” and “who” she is. Living in the majority-white town is not easy, given society’s sentiments to both Japanese people and Black Americans after World War II and the Civil Rights Movement. However, Mimi faces every situation head on, following her father’s advice that “raindrops are stronger than hammers” (210) when attempting to enact change. Though she is initially disheartened with the way people focus on nothing but her race, she slowly begins to gain confidence once she begins navigating her own identity. Mimi’s physical features and personality traits are a mixture of both her mother and father. In addition to navigating her racial identity, Mimi also challenges gender norms by protesting against her inability to take shop, and by aspiring to become an astronaut when girls aren’t expected to become anything other than housewives, teachers, secretaries, or nurses.

By the end of the novel, she learns that only she can define who she is, which is a variety of roles she plays combined with her aspirations.