(Read for Newbery Club in Children's Books group.)

I just couldn't help reading this as historical fiction. After all, I did read [b:Farewell to Manzanar|29324951|Farewell to Manzanar|Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|203747], too, and I've visited the camp myself. Twice, in fact, once when the desert had almost reclaimed it, and once later when it was developed as a park: https://www.nps.gov/manz/index.htm. Sue Ohara was lucky she wasn't there, but in a better camp.

But to think that it was current at the time it was written, and that it didn't win the Newbery Medal... *I* think it's the best and most important book of that year.

Consider the details, the subtleties. As group member Karol points out, consider the class & generational differences among the Japanese themselves, for example. To think that, for some, the barracks offered *more* physical comfort than their former homes. And Kim expresses frustration:

"If I scowl, they say, 'Look at the Jap, mad at being given a soft living, when his own country's freezing prisoners' feet off and starving them to death.' And if I smile, they say, "See the insolent, sneering Jap.' And if I try to hide my feelings, they say, 'There's no safety with folks that can hide their thoughts like that.'"

And the descriptions... I always knew Joshua trees were bizarre looking, but I was never before able to realize that they're "like rheumatic giants carrying petrified feather dusters."

Very good book. ( )

A gripping tale of Japanese-Americans forced to leave their lives and their homes, sent to internment camps after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. While most are discouraged about their current situation, some exhibit perseverance and hope for the future.

The plot is handled skillfully, never becoming melodramatic, always keeping the characters fresh and real. ( )

Follows the story of a Japanese-American family who are forced to move into a detention camp during WWII.
Not a terrible treatment of the subject, but the insistent patriotism of the main characters, despite all they go through, is a little grating and rings a little false. ( )

A Newbery Honor book with a copyright date of 1945. Who would have thought it? Means was out writing insightful books for children over fifty years ago, books recognized by ALA as excellent. Yet I don’t remember ever seeing this book before now, not in my library, not on any good book list. Why?Here’s the plot: A family of Japanese Americans, who attend church and participate in their community, are sent off to detainment camps in the wake of Pearl Harbor. Means is on spot with her portrayals of the teenage son and daughter who react to their detainment with two different feelings and two different actions. This is a book I had to double check several times; was it really written in 1945? And it makes me want to know more about Means. How did she come to know the culture of this story so well? ( )

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