I love the white-on black illustrations that are on each title-chapter page! This really heart-wrenching story is told from the perspective of a girl named Vera, and it is written in this beautiful prose-poetic-diary sort of style. It is amazing! Vera's mother seems so distant, her father even more so (he left) and then the Japanese come, without warning and all of Vera's people are moved into internment camps on the other side of Alaska. I love Hesse's lines throughout this book. 'But in the endless light of June, the Japanese stung from the sky'. The Aleuts go to Wrangell, and then on to Ketchikan. There is so much sadnes: 'We find not a single leaf we recognize'.  There is so much touching hope: 'I put my hand over my eyes so the light he makes shine inside me won't leak out.' There is love: When the fierce wind played the grass like a tempest of green violins....I did not know I loved Alfred.' Her best friend Pari dies in a heartbreaking chapter, "Lost". Hesse does not try to patronize the reader by making anything glossier and more glamourous - her achingly true account of the Aleuts relocation paints the sad tale of a culture's destruction. An incredibly beautiful book.

What attracted me to the "Aleutian Sparrow" initially was the graphic design on the chapter pages. Beyond that the concise, light looking text attracted my literature eye. I hadn't seen a book designed like this before, or at least a book that was for someone older than 8 years of age. The "Aleutian Sparrow" is un-rhymed verse. Each page is really a separate poem highly one aspect of the Japanese invasion of the Aleutians during WW2 and the relocation of Aleuts. It is fiction, but is written in first person. This gives the book an appearance of being non-fiction. I think using first person narrator makes the book easier to read. Finally, I think Karen Hesse has written a text that could easily differentiate a WW2 literature unit for below grade level readers. This book is not easy, but the way it was written and designed, makes it more readable for struggling readers and under-motivated readers. ( )

Karen Hesse is a genius. Out of the Dust was tragic and hopeful, sad and beautiful. Aleutian Sparrow is no exception. Set in the Aleutian Islands (off the coast of mainland Alaska) during World War II, this book is the story of Vera, a half-Aleutian and half-Caucasian girl, who is forced to move from her home into internment camps. We follow the journey of Vera and her neighbors from home to camp and back.

Artfully written in short free-verse poems similar to Out of the Dust, Aleutian Sparrow is full of bursts of events and emotions. We learn about Vera's father dying at sea, the deforestation of the islands by western interests, and the better conditions of German prisoners of war nearby. The power of Hesse's writing is in her brevity.

She brings up topics as heavy as the cruelty of war, the dehumanization of interned Americans, and rebuilding a community. This book is suitable for anyone who would like to learn something new about US involvement in internment camps, such as the one in Farewell to Manzanar. I recommend it for the discussion that it will prompt about ethics and community afterwards. ( )

This is a wonderful book. Written in an unusual way. It holds information about WW ll, and The Aleutian Islands that I never knew. After 12 years of public school I never knew that any American land was held by Japan during the war. I never knew the hardships that the native Alaskan people suffered under the hands of "friends". Why don't we read these things in history books in school? This is history that must be added to our knowledge of WW ll.

Relocated for

their safety, but village life

torn apart by war.