Temple Alley Summer is full of mystery, history, and ghosts. Kazu's summer project is to learn more about his neighborhood, Temple Alley, named for the former Kimyo Temple located where Kazu's house currently stands. An old legend claims that the temple has the power to bring the dead back to life. A girl named Akari suddenly appears in the alley and Kazu starts to wonder if the legend is more than a story.
None of the remaining elderly residents of the alley remember Kimyo Temple or they don't want to talk about it. Kazu stirs up trouble by asking too many questions and finds himself at odds with the commanding Ms. Minakami and her cat Kiriko. Kiriko starts following Kazu around and the reader senses that there are eyes and ears everywhere around the neighborhood. Wrapped up in the legend of bringing the dead back to life is a fantasy manga story involving a witch, a curse and more children returning from the dead. I love that Kazu and his friends are caught up in fun summer reading and doing regular kid stuff like going to the beach and festivals.
The publisher Yonder: Restless Books for Young Readers is the 2022 recipient of the Mildred Batchelder Award for Temple Alley Summer. Originally published in Japanese as Kimyōji Yokochō no Natsu, the book was written by Sachiko Kashiwaba, illustrated by Miho Satake, and translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa. The Batchelder Award is given to the most outstanding children’s book originating in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States.