Mariko Nagai

Let me say upfront that I believe that children are innocent victims of war, even when it is their own country’s aggression that is at the root of their ordeal. I felt tremendous empathy for these orphaned Japanese sisters trying to escape the Russian army in pre WWII Manchuria. The verse format made the story all the more powerful. The author’s journey to writing the story, and the present day connections were also very compelling.

Though it is marketed as middle grade, I am adding it show more to the list of options for our Social Studies 10 historical fiction unit as there are many connections to the geopolitics of Manchuria, and to WWII, and many good discussions that could emerge.

The synopsis on the back is misleading, as you may keep waiting for Natsu to “sell” Asa, but that doesn’t happen until the last few pages of the book and was not a big part of the story for me. At its heart, this is a story of displacement, unrelenting hardships, and survival amidst unlikely odds. show less

A concise, searing, and evocative account of internments of Japanese-American citizens on the West Coast during World War II. The narrator is Mina Tagawa, a young middle-school student who loves her family, her best friend Jamie, and her cat Basho. She wants nothing more than to sing in the choir and be at school. The Second World War disrupts her life, and the forced internment of her family sends her to unlivable and unspeakable places, causing her family to fracture and break again and show more again. This novel in verse is incredible, because it conveys emotion with simple phrases and broken lines. I will be adding it to my teaching rotation immediately. show less

A slim novel in verse that chronicles the three years that Mina and her family spent in internment camps during World War II.

This is a very accessible book, easily recommended for upper elementary and middle school students as an introduction to an often overlooked part of American history. The strength of the story lies in Mina's observations about the indignities her family suffers and the hardships they face. I would have preferred more character development and emotional resonance, but show more as an instructional work of historical fiction, this fits the bill.

For an excellent nonfiction kids' book on the Japanese American internment, I highly recommend Joanne Oppenheim's Dear Miss Breed. It follows the correspondences of a San Deigo librarian with some of her former young patrons after they are relocated from their homes into internment camps. Filled with the actual letters, photos of the children, newspaper headlines and more, Dear Miss Breed exposes how a nation's fear could allow for this injustice. A real eye-opener and a compelling read. show less

war, discrimination, government