Books by Suzanne Kamata

SQUEAKY WHEELS: Travels with my Daughter by Train, Plane, Metro, Tuk-tuk and Wheelchair is a mother-daughter travel memoir woven with comparative culture and accessibility awareness. Kamata's adventures with her teen-who happens to be deaf, with cerebral palsy, and in a wheelchair-through subterranean Tennessee, to the islands of Japan, and to the top of the Eiffel Tower ultimately lead to a daughter's increasing independence, a mother letting go of expectations, and advocacy for travel which prohibits discrimination.

The American writer Suzanne Kamata had lived in Japan for more than half of her life, yet she had never explored the small nearby islands of the Inland Sea. The islands, first made famous by Donald Richie's The Inland Sea 50 years ago, are noted for displaying artwork created by prominent, and sometimes curious, international artists and sculptors: Naoshima's wealth of museums, including one devoted to 007, Yayoi Kusama's polka dot pumpkins, Kazuo Katase's blue teacup, and a monster rising out of a well on the hour in Sakate, called "e;Anger at the Bottom of the Sea"e;-to name a few. Spurred by her teen-aged daughter Lilia's burgeoning interest in art and adventure, Kamata sets out to show her the islands' treasures. Mother and daughter must confront several barriers on their adventure. Lilia is deaf and uses a wheelchair. It is not always easy to get onto -- or off of -- the islands, not to mention the challenges of language, culture, and a generation gap. A Girls' Guide to the Islands takes the reader on a rare visit by a unique mother and daughter team.

Anna and the French Kiss meets Stoner & Spaz in a contemporary young adult coming-of-age novel about a girl, her struggles, and her art. Aiko Cassidy is fifteen and lives with her sculptor mother in a small Midwestern town. For most of her young life Aiko, who has cerebral palsy, has been her mother's muse. But now, she no longer wants to pose for the figures that have made her mother famous. Aiko works hard on her own dream, becoming a sought-after manga artist with a secret identity. When Aiko's mother invites her to Paris for a major exhibition of her work, Aiko resists. She'd much rather go to Japan, Manga Capital of the World, where she might be able to finally meet her father, the indigo farmer. When she gets to France, however, a hot waiter with a passion for manga and an interest in Aiko makes her wonder if being invisible is such a great thing after all.

This collection about expatriates in Cuba, Egypt, Australia, Japan and France confronts universal matters of the heart.