With the Himawari House teaching guide, educators have the tools to teach using Harmony Becker’s award-winning graphic novel.

Himawari House — winner of Pop Culture Classroom’s 2022 Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards’ Book of the Year — explores themes such as finding your identity, East Asian cultures, family & friendship, and living outside your comfort zone.

Nao has always struggled with her identity and fitting in with those around her. Born in Japan to a Japanese mother and American father—but having spent most of her life in the United States—she journeys back to Japan at the age of nineteen to live for a year and reconnect with her home country.

In Himawari House, the author and artist Harmony Becker invites us to know Nao and her roommates on deeply intimate levels as she reveals their deepest complexities, joys, and insecurities. Illustrated in a manga-like style with artistic eccentricities that highlight each character’s inner thoughts, Becker creates fully realized characters who grapple with the trails of young adulthood and figuring out their place in a new country and the world.

This resource is aligned to Common Core standards for grades 9-12. This free downloadable teaching guide includes pre-reading activities, ready-to-use class project ideas, discussion questions, and links to additional readings.