Summary: Kiku has seemingly been transported away from present-day San Francisco to some isolated desert… in 1940! As a Japanese-American, Kiku sees the experiences of other Japanese-Americans in internment camps with her very own eyes, including that of her grandmother.
Review: This was an interesting story! It had a lot of good messages in it about the treatment of people (and the historical mistreatment of people). There was a lot of information in this book about some of the worst parts of internment camps – things I had not previously known about. It was fascinating to learn more about this very hidden part of our country’s history. Beyond the educational value, the story was also entertaining and kept me intrigued pretty much the whole way through. I think I even more especially liked this story because there’s so few like it. Hardly any authors are writing about this dark part of America’s history, especially for kids, so I think this is a great story to have and share.
As for the story itself, I enjoyed the general premise of it. Seeing Kiku “time travel” to a time in the interment camps was interesting. It did take me a second to understand that that was what had happened, but once it clicked, I was fully invested. It was great learning about the camps alongside Kiku.
Added to this educational experience and enjoyable story was the fact that this was written as a graphic novel! The illustrations were quite beautiful, and they really brought the characters to life. Seeing them and having a visual of them allowed me to easily connect to them and invest in their journeys and survival through the camps. It really made for a much more emotional experience than I would’ve expected.
One of the elements of the story that I think could’ve been improved was the usage of some specific terminology. Specifically, issei, nikei, and nissei. I had never heard these terms before, and there was very little context given for them. I had to look them up on my own, which is fine, but I think you would ideally want the author to teach you these words through the context of their writing. This is especially true when writing for younger readers who may not take the initiative to look up the unfamiliar words.
The only real “negative” part of this story was the ending. It felt a bit too preach-y. There was an extended monologue about protesting and remembering your history. While all of this is very well and good, it didn’t really fit the narrative of the story and felt more like an author’s note being disguised (poorly) as dialogue.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Recommended reader: Anyone who likes:
- Historical Fiction
- Graphic novels
- Internment camps
- WWII stories
- Japanese-American protagonists
- Time travel
- Self-discovery
- Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban
Discussion Questions:
- What were questions 27 and 28 on the questionnaire given to the Japanese prisoners? What was the impact of these two questions in the camps? Why were these two questions so difficult to answer? How did your answers change your fate?
- Who is James Wakasa? What happened to him? Why did this have such a big impact on the prisoners? What did he symbolize to them?
- Why is it important to learn about one’s history? Why did Kiku feel it was important? What benefit does knowing our past have for us and our futures? Why did Kiku’s grandmother, Ernestina, and other Japanese-Americans not want to share their history? What negative effects did it have?
Specifics of the book:
- Genre: Historical Fiction
- Lexile Level: N/A
- Accelerated Reader Level: 4.7 (2)
- Content Level: 7th
- Pages: 277
- Controversial Issues: None
Young Adult Lit Reviews 