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Sweet Valley Kids #32
Left Back!
There's a new boy in school named Kisho Murasaki. At first Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield and all their friends like Kisho a lot. But then everyone finds out that Kisho has been left back a year. Suddenly nobody wants to be his friend anymore because they think he's stupid. Elizabeth knows her classmetes are wrong about Kisho—but how can she prove it to them?
- GenresChildrens
71 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 1992
About the author
Francine Pascal
1,149 books1,854 followersFrancine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.
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February 6, 2026Left Back (Sweet Valley Kids)
It’s Friday and a new student is coming whose name is Kisho. He arrives in the middle of the reading lesson and is introduced to the class by the principal as Kisho Murasaki. Mrs. Otis tells him to tell something about himself and he says he just moved from Oklahoma, he’s an only child, and he likes sports. Todd and Liz decide to ask him at recess if he likes soccer. Then Mrs. Otis makes the class all introduce themselves and then gives him a reading book.
When its Kisho’s turn to read, he struggles through some of the words, but when he’s done Mrs. Otis tells him he did a good job. Liz notices he looks relieved and that reading didn’t look like his favorite subject. At art, Mrs. Otis says they’ll be making cards to give their grandparents for Grandparent’s Day coming up. Amy says she’s going to make a bicycle because her grandparents like to bike. Caroline asks why Kisho has such a weird name and he explains that a lot of people from Japan have that name.
Kisho is a good artist and draws himself (but with blue hair because he couldn’t find a black crayon). He offers to help Amy draw her bike. They get to talking about birthdays. Kisho says his is in seven days and he wants to have a party at the park so they can cook hamburgers and play baseball. He loves baseball! Lila suggests Secca Lake instead and he says good idea. He’ll tell his mom.
Liz and Todd ask him about soccer. Ken says he’d be good because he’s so tall. Winston says he beats he’s even taller than Charlie, but Kisho just says quietly he bets they’ll catch up. Liz says she guesses he’s not into soccer, but Jessica is more interested in the party.
On Monday, Kisho gives out invitations to his party. They’re studying multiplication in class. Even Liz admits it can be hard. But Kisho gets a 100 and Mrs. Otis moves him up to 3’s. He tells them he was in the second grade last year and had studied multiplication before. They’re all surprised that he had to repeat the second grade and find out he’s nine. Lila says he must be dumb. Jessica he can’t be. He knows multiplication. Lila says that’s because he’s a yea r older and Jessica thinks on it and says she guesses that’s right.
Lila and Jessica decide they can’t be his friend and they won’t go to his party either. Liz reminds Jessica she already told him she’d go but Jessica says she changed her mind. At recess, they (Lila, Ellen, and Jessica) give Kish the nickname “Dumbo” and tell him they can’t come to his party. Kisho’s face turns red and he runs off. Charlie surprisingly instead of teasing Kisho like the other kids, defends him, tells them they’d better leave him alone or else, and runs after him.
Charlie and Liz talk to Kisho the next day. They find out he was born in Japan but moved when he was four. Then he moved to New York. Then Oklahoma. Charlie asks if he likes moving so much and he says not really but his parents are professors so he kinda doesn’t have a choice in the matter. They might stay in SV a while tho.
Liz asks if he had to repeat the second grade because they moved around so much. He admits that he did miss a lot of school and he doesn’t read English well. Liz assures him that Mrs. Otis is a good teacher. He says he wants to learn. He just wishes the other kids would stop teasing him. At his other school, getting left back wasn’t that big a deal. Liz vows to think of a way to get the other kids to stop. She just doesn’t know how she’ll do it. Kisho invites them over to his house and Charlie says they’ll play space invaders in the park. Charlie tells Liz he bets she’s wondering why hes being so nice to Kisho and Liz admits she is. He says I can be nice to whoever I want to. Liz thinks this over and realizes she can be nice to Kisho too despite Jessica.
Liz goes to play Space Invaders with Charlie and Kisho. She invites Jessica but she turns it down. Lila makes it seem like Liz likes Kisho. Jessica hops to her denfence, She then goes over to Liz, pulls her away, and demand she stop being Kisho’s friend. Now they’re starting to tease her. Liz says she doesn’t care what they say about Kisho. She likes him. The twins decide to just go home. Liz is silent all the way there. Jessica hopes she’s thinking about now being Kisho’s friend.
At dinner (over tacos), Liz asks her mom why some kids have to repeat a grade. Steven says because they’re stupid. Alice says that’s not true. Everyone learns at a different pace. Some kids just need more time. Mr. Wakefield says it doesn’t mean they aren’t smart. Jessica still believes Kisho is just dumb and that’s all there is too it.
The next day, Mrs. Murasaki picks up Charlie and Liz to go play over Kisho’s house after school. Kisho’s room is a little messy. He hasn’t unpacked and he says he’s not the neatest person but Charlie says he isn’t either. Liz and Charlie are amazed when Kisho gets a call and starts speaking in Japanese to his grandmother -whose coming to visit next month-. He says he and his family speak it a lot at home. He then shows them one of his books which is written backwards-the end is the beginning-. Its printed from the top down. Now Liz understand why it’s so hard for Kisho to read English.
Charlie says that when his grandparents moved there from Italy they didn’t speak English. A lot of people made fun of them and some people still make fun of his grandfather. Charlie says he can speak a little Italian. Kisho says his grandfather is teaching him how to speak English. Liz says it would be interesting if one day Mrs. Otis taught them Japanese and Kisho says the next day Italian. This gives Liz an idea how to make the kids stop teasing Kisho.
The next day, Charlie, Kisho, and Liz hint about a surprise in front of Jessica and the others. Caroline says she doesn’t care. It can’t be that important because Kisho is a dumbo. Mrs. Otis overhears a gives a long talk about being open to people’s differences and learning something from them. The next day, the class has two surprise visitors Kisho’s grandfather and Charlie’s grandfather who tell them about moving to America. Then they talk about some words in other languages.
Jessica realizes not knowing something doesn’t make you dumb. She doesn’t know Japanese. They decide to buy him a box of crayons as a present. The twins go to the party. Charlie gives Kisho an astronauts helmet. They talk about him wearing it for Halloween and then they all start to talk about what they’re going to wear for Halloween. Jessica says she wants to win the Best Costume for Halloween. Caroline says she can’t because she’s going to win it.
Rating: 5 As I read this, the irony of it hit me that just recently I’d said the EXACT same words as Alice to the twins. My cousin has a daughter that’s’ 3. And our aunt was complaining that my cousin pushes her daughter too hard and thinks she should be more grown (up) or more advanced than she is. Because kids her age already knew how to count. I actually had another cousin (her brother) that did this with one of his sons who didn’t pick up reading as quickly as the other kids-who had been going to school way longer-. And he wondered was his son “slow”. SMH. In both cases, this is SAD. I may not be a parent, but I know enough to know that kids learn at different rates and you can’t compare your child’s intelligence to another childs just because their the same age and the other child might pick it up quicker. But I think this book taught a good lesson about how quick people (kids) can be to judge when they don’t even know the whole story.
It’s Friday and a new student is coming whose name is Kisho. He arrives in the middle of the reading lesson and is introduced to the class by the principal as Kisho Murasaki. Mrs. Otis tells him to tell something about himself and he says he just moved from Oklahoma, he’s an only child, and he likes sports. Todd and Liz decide to ask him at recess if he likes soccer. Then Mrs. Otis makes the class all introduce themselves and then gives him a reading book.
When its Kisho’s turn to read, he struggles through some of the words, but when he’s done Mrs. Otis tells him he did a good job. Liz notices he looks relieved and that reading didn’t look like his favorite subject. At art, Mrs. Otis says they’ll be making cards to give their grandparents for Grandparent’s Day coming up. Amy says she’s going to make a bicycle because her grandparents like to bike. Caroline asks why Kisho has such a weird name and he explains that a lot of people from Japan have that name.
Kisho is a good artist and draws himself (but with blue hair because he couldn’t find a black crayon). He offers to help Amy draw her bike. They get to talking about birthdays. Kisho says his is in seven days and he wants to have a party at the park so they can cook hamburgers and play baseball. He loves baseball! Lila suggests Secca Lake instead and he says good idea. He’ll tell his mom.
Liz and Todd ask him about soccer. Ken says he’d be good because he’s so tall. Winston says he beats he’s even taller than Charlie, but Kisho just says quietly he bets they’ll catch up. Liz says she guesses he’s not into soccer, but Jessica is more interested in the party.
On Monday, Kisho gives out invitations to his party. They’re studying multiplication in class. Even Liz admits it can be hard. But Kisho gets a 100 and Mrs. Otis moves him up to 3’s. He tells them he was in the second grade last year and had studied multiplication before. They’re all surprised that he had to repeat the second grade and find out he’s nine. Lila says he must be dumb. Jessica he can’t be. He knows multiplication. Lila says that’s because he’s a yea r older and Jessica thinks on it and says she guesses that’s right.
Lila and Jessica decide they can’t be his friend and they won’t go to his party either. Liz reminds Jessica she already told him she’d go but Jessica says she changed her mind. At recess, they (Lila, Ellen, and Jessica) give Kish the nickname “Dumbo” and tell him they can’t come to his party. Kisho’s face turns red and he runs off. Charlie surprisingly instead of teasing Kisho like the other kids, defends him, tells them they’d better leave him alone or else, and runs after him.
Charlie and Liz talk to Kisho the next day. They find out he was born in Japan but moved when he was four. Then he moved to New York. Then Oklahoma. Charlie asks if he likes moving so much and he says not really but his parents are professors so he kinda doesn’t have a choice in the matter. They might stay in SV a while tho.
Liz asks if he had to repeat the second grade because they moved around so much. He admits that he did miss a lot of school and he doesn’t read English well. Liz assures him that Mrs. Otis is a good teacher. He says he wants to learn. He just wishes the other kids would stop teasing him. At his other school, getting left back wasn’t that big a deal. Liz vows to think of a way to get the other kids to stop. She just doesn’t know how she’ll do it. Kisho invites them over to his house and Charlie says they’ll play space invaders in the park. Charlie tells Liz he bets she’s wondering why hes being so nice to Kisho and Liz admits she is. He says I can be nice to whoever I want to. Liz thinks this over and realizes she can be nice to Kisho too despite Jessica.
Liz goes to play Space Invaders with Charlie and Kisho. She invites Jessica but she turns it down. Lila makes it seem like Liz likes Kisho. Jessica hops to her denfence, She then goes over to Liz, pulls her away, and demand she stop being Kisho’s friend. Now they’re starting to tease her. Liz says she doesn’t care what they say about Kisho. She likes him. The twins decide to just go home. Liz is silent all the way there. Jessica hopes she’s thinking about now being Kisho’s friend.
At dinner (over tacos), Liz asks her mom why some kids have to repeat a grade. Steven says because they’re stupid. Alice says that’s not true. Everyone learns at a different pace. Some kids just need more time. Mr. Wakefield says it doesn’t mean they aren’t smart. Jessica still believes Kisho is just dumb and that’s all there is too it.
The next day, Mrs. Murasaki picks up Charlie and Liz to go play over Kisho’s house after school. Kisho’s room is a little messy. He hasn’t unpacked and he says he’s not the neatest person but Charlie says he isn’t either. Liz and Charlie are amazed when Kisho gets a call and starts speaking in Japanese to his grandmother -whose coming to visit next month-. He says he and his family speak it a lot at home. He then shows them one of his books which is written backwards-the end is the beginning-. Its printed from the top down. Now Liz understand why it’s so hard for Kisho to read English.
Charlie says that when his grandparents moved there from Italy they didn’t speak English. A lot of people made fun of them and some people still make fun of his grandfather. Charlie says he can speak a little Italian. Kisho says his grandfather is teaching him how to speak English. Liz says it would be interesting if one day Mrs. Otis taught them Japanese and Kisho says the next day Italian. This gives Liz an idea how to make the kids stop teasing Kisho.
The next day, Charlie, Kisho, and Liz hint about a surprise in front of Jessica and the others. Caroline says she doesn’t care. It can’t be that important because Kisho is a dumbo. Mrs. Otis overhears a gives a long talk about being open to people’s differences and learning something from them. The next day, the class has two surprise visitors Kisho’s grandfather and Charlie’s grandfather who tell them about moving to America. Then they talk about some words in other languages.
Jessica realizes not knowing something doesn’t make you dumb. She doesn’t know Japanese. They decide to buy him a box of crayons as a present. The twins go to the party. Charlie gives Kisho an astronauts helmet. They talk about him wearing it for Halloween and then they all start to talk about what they’re going to wear for Halloween. Jessica says she wants to win the Best Costume for Halloween. Caroline says she can’t because she’s going to win it.
Rating: 5 As I read this, the irony of it hit me that just recently I’d said the EXACT same words as Alice to the twins. My cousin has a daughter that’s’ 3. And our aunt was complaining that my cousin pushes her daughter too hard and thinks she should be more grown (up) or more advanced than she is. Because kids her age already knew how to count. I actually had another cousin (her brother) that did this with one of his sons who didn’t pick up reading as quickly as the other kids-who had been going to school way longer-. And he wondered was his son “slow”. SMH. In both cases, this is SAD. I may not be a parent, but I know enough to know that kids learn at different rates and you can’t compare your child’s intelligence to another childs just because their the same age and the other child might pick it up quicker. But I think this book taught a good lesson about how quick people (kids) can be to judge when they don’t even know the whole story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 26, 2025
I cannot imagine how kids could be that rude! I'm glad that the teacher resolved it. I was really surprised to know that 7 year olds could be that judgmental.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 5, 2021
sweetvalleyrecaps
Sweet Valley Kids 32 - Left back!
There’s a new boy in second grade - Kisho Murasaki. He’s slightly taller than the other boys, but everyone likes him. He’s really good at multiplication and art, but not great at reading. I think I see what’s going on here 🤔 Anyway, he’s having a birthday party this weekend and invites the class, and everyone is excited - until they learn he is NINE 😱😱 He was left back. Lila and others (including Jess) act like he has cooties (they actually call him dummy, it’s horrible), and refuse to go to his party. Of course Liz feels bad, and so, surprisingly, does Charlie Cashman - the class bully! I’m guessing he’s been left back too maybe? Charlie and Liz go to Kishos house and see cool Japanese stuff, and realise that Japanese is sooo different to English, and that’s why Kisho has trouble reading it. Charlie, Liz and Kisho have a great idea, but it’s a secret. Mrs Otis hears Caroline calling Kisho dumb and lectures the class on immigration (👏🏻👏🏻), and the next day, the secret is revealed - Kishos Japanese Grandfather and Charlie’s Italian Grandmother come in to talk about how they moved to America, and teach the kids ‘good’ in Japanese and Italian, everyone is so impressed they like Kisho again, and go to his party. Oh! And Alice talks about her ancestor - consistently! 👏🏻👏🏻 They can’t get Lila’s mother right but they got this 🤷🏼♀️ (second pic).
My rating - 5/10 - although I’m getting a little sick of the ‘pick on the different kid’ schtick, I liked Kisho and I liked that Charlie wasn’t a bully for once. Always love a good bad boy redemption arc 🤷🏼♀️
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January 11, 2023I think this does a great job of showing kids that being kept back a year doesn't necessarily mean that you're stupid—that there can be other reasons for being behind in school, like moving around a lot or, as in Kisho's case, not having English as your first language. I also really liked that Charlie was given a second dimension here.
Tell you what, though: the Sweet Valley elementary kids really are terrible bullies, who generally get away with their awful behaviour completely. I'd love to see them properly told off for being awful every once in a while!
Tell you what, though: the Sweet Valley elementary kids really are terrible bullies, who generally get away with their awful behaviour completely. I'd love to see them properly told off for being awful every once in a while!
July 26, 2012
The one w/ the Japanese exchange student. I barely remember it, but it may have been that he was left back to learn more English, since it wasn't his first language.
June 22, 2013
I remember the cover but just not the story
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews