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#middlegrademonday
@Karisimo @Daisey

For me, it doesn't get more American than this. Jeanne Wakatsuki (the book's narrator) is a Nisei (child of a Japanese immigrant). At age seven, Wakatsuki—a native-born American citizen—and her family were living on Ocean Park, CA, when they have to move to Terminal Island, where her father, a fisherman who owned two boats, was arrested by the FBI following the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941.

This book underwhelmed me. I thought the beginning was great - when the focus was on the mother and her preparation for leaving for the internment camps. In the end of the book, Julie Otsuka brings back the collective we that made The Buddha in the Attic such a literary stunner. Even though the narrative worked, honestly all I can say is that it underwhelmed me.

This book tells the story of the persecuted Japanese in Canada during World War II. I feel it‘s an important story that many Europeans (me!) are not aware of (i.e.
I had no idea that Canada had ghettos and labor camps) yet, except for some deeply moving chapters, there is not much happening in the book. Unfortunately, that‘s why it was a rather boring read.

Gosh, what a read and in so few pages. This is the first I've read by her but won't be the last. It's taught me more about the Japanese internment in WW2 and the huge suspicious around them.
Removing character names really struck me as not depersonalisation but nameless people, as in the camps. The final chapter will stay with me for a while.

#middlegrademonday @karisimo

From facinghistory.org: FAREWELL TO MANZANAR is the true story of Jeanne Wakatsuki's family‘s attempt to survive the indignities caused by forced detention, and of a native-born American child who discovered what it was like to grow up behind barbed wire in the United States during WW2.

I couldn‘t have read this book at a scarier time. The author creates an all too familiar story of hate and violence in the United States when a fascist is in power. Echoes of the past, and current times. Who will speak up when nationalists and fascists take control? We are days away from an extremely consequential election in America. Days away from deciding if we will continue to be a ‘democracy‘. Fascism is here. Choose wisely. We do not⬇️

We made a stop at Manzanar on our way to Lake Tahoe. I picked up this memoir of a Japanese girl's experience in Manzanar.

This is my second time visiting this national Monument and I still get emotional.

#MiddleGradeMonday
@karisimo

Setting: the Manzanar Internment Camp during WW2. “FAREWELL TO MANZANAR is the true story of one spirited Japanese-American family's attempt to survive the indignities of forced detention—and of a native-born American child who discovered what it was like to grow up behind barbed wire in the United States“ (Goodreads).

A powerful book to read and to teach.

This is a worthy topic, but unfortunately a poor execution. The stories are piecemeal and disjointed. There is far too much telling and not enough showing - the graphic format was badly underutilised. The excessively small print in portions provided further friction to the reading process.

Read They Called Us Enemy (Takei) instead.