Weedflower

Twelve-year-old Sumiko feels her life has been made up of two parts: before Pearl Harbor and after it. The good part and the bad part. Raised on a flower farm in California, Sumiko is used to being the only Japanese girl in her class. Even when the other kids tease her, she always has had her flowers and family to go home to.
That all changes after the horrific events of Pearl Harbor. Other Americans start to suspect that all Japanese people are spies for the emperor, even if, like Sumiko, they were born in the United States! As suspicions grow, Sumiko and her family find themselves being shipped to an internment camp in one of the hottest deserts in the United States. The vivid color of her previous life is gone forever, and now dust show more storms regularly choke the sky and seep into every crack of the military barrack that is her new "home."

Sumiko soon discovers that the camp is on an Indian reservation and that the Japanese are as unwanted there as they'd been at home. But then she meets a young Mohave boy who might just become her first real friend...if he can ever stop being angry about the fact that the internment camp is on his tribe's land.

With searing insight and clarity, Newbery Medal-winning author Cynthia Kadohata explores an important and painful topic through the eyes of a young girl who yearns to belong. Weedflower is the story of the rewards and challenges of a friendship across the racial divide, as well as the based-on-real-life story of how the meeting of Japanese Americans and Native Americans changed the future of both. show less

I hated for this book to end, and, in fact, the ending is the only place I would quibble with it.. I felt like it was kind of abrupt and a bit dissatisfying (sequel coming maybe?).

Other than that, it was another showcase for Kadohata's mastery as a storyteller and word weaver. Although the story is told in third person, we are IN Sumiko's head, and we see the world so poignantly and honestly, with her eyes.

Even the least consequential characters are clear and real, and Kadohata has managed to tackle one of the most difficult, shameful chapters in American history with brushstrokes of beauty and light. When they say writers should "show not tell," this is the perfect example. She avoids being preachy, or maudlin manipulation. Instead, show more she lets the telling detail reveal the truth. I think this should be required reading for all middle school American children. show less

The story of Sumiko and her family, Japanese Americans interned during WWII. Covers the whole experience -- from rejection by her community to reluctance to leave when they are allowed to go, to the uncomfortable relationship between the Native tribes already on the reservation where the internment camp, Poston, was eastablished. Very thorough, very well researched, and Sumiko's often awkward navigation of friendships and family are compelling.

Personal Response:
I enjoyed the interaction between Sumiko and Frank and the parallels drawn between treatment of the Native American tribes and Japanese Americans in American history-a subject that is often glossed over. I appreciated that these character grew to be friends after learning about one another and how similar they really are, while respecting their unique knowledge and experiences.

I also liked Sumiko's battle against what her grandfather calls "the ultimate boredom" or the loss of a person's hopes and dreams to despair. Sumiko was on the brink of giving up on her dream of owning a flower shop one day, but a packet of seeds she rescued from her uncle's shed before coming to the camp helped motivate her to face each show more day.

Curricular Connections:
This book would be a great in a discussion of how prejudice can blind people and make them act in irrational ways toward one another. It would also be interesting to discuss how discrimination is visible today and connect the lessons of the story with modern times, rather than viewing this prejudice as an historical note. This book also connects very well with the events of 9/11 and how Arab-Americans were treated following the attack. show less

I absolutely loved this book, and I think it is because the ending was completely different than the beginning. It was as if the whole story was evolving and rotating without the reader really taking notice, and I loved that. The main message of the story is, no matter what happens you will always have those that will mean the most to you. Sumiko truly gained a friendship from the war that she wasn't even expecting to have gained. I also liked how the author painted the war with flowers. She took a negative concept of history, and covered it with something beautiful and positive. There was so much beauty in this book that I could not put it down at all.

Twelve year old Sumiko and her Japanese-American family are relocated to an internment camp. This forces them to give up the flower growing business that is an integral part of who they are. Prior to Pearl Harbor and war breaking out, the section where Sumiko is uninvited to the birthday party by the mother (pg. 34 - 37) is heart breaking and would be a great hook for many readers. It feels incredibly real in its cruelty.

A well balanced narrative.

I listened to this as an unabridged audiobook, narrated by Kimberly Farr, and was particularly impressed that it told, not only the story of the internment of the Japanese, but also the effect this had on the indigenous Indian population, whose land they were encamped on.

We first meet Sumiko, in the days before WWII, living in California. She is the only Japanese girl in her class, but it has never been much of a problem; she has her family and her part in the running of the family's flower farm, life is good.
As WWII looms and the Japanese become the enemy, she finds that although she was born and raised in America, she is viewed with suspicion and distrust, and eventually has to move to an internment camp deep show more in the dusty desert of Arizona, along with the women of her family. The adult men are incarcerated elsewhere.
They soon discover that the land is already occupied, by the Mohave Indians, who are not at all happy to be sharing.

Sumiko is a wonderfully positive character, who makes the best of everything, even dust storms and heat. She befriends an elderly man and helps create a garden in the wilderness and she meets a young Mohave boy, learning why his people are resentful of their arrival.

This was a well balanced and highly readable young adult novel that easily crossed over into adult reading. I may well listen to the audiobook again in the future. show less