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4.36 AVERAGE
4.36 AVERAGE
interesting concept but i didn't really like the execution. the writing felt quite flat (a pitfall of middle grade- i didn't realize it was when i picked it up) and the pacing felt off. felt like it should've been longer in order to properly convey everything hughes seemed to want to. however, it was still an interesting story and i found the central characters endearing!
Read for Summer Reading 2023--prompts: graphic novel, element on the cover
"When a community comes together to demand more, when we do not let trauma stay obscured but bring it up to the surface and remember it together--we can make sure it is not repeated."
LOVED this. A super quick read, but a heartwarming/harrowing story of generational racial trauma and how to fight it.
"When a community comes together to demand more, when we do not let trauma stay obscured but bring it up to the surface and remember it together--we can make sure it is not repeated."
LOVED this. A super quick read, but a heartwarming/harrowing story of generational racial trauma and how to fight it.
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This book reminded me in many ways of [b:The Devil's Arithmetic|91357|The Devil's Arithmetic|Jane Yolen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1342046407l/91357._SX50_.jpg|1310677], a book I read to shreds as a kid. A young woman goes back in time (dream? reality? memory?) and witnesses a traumatic event from history, but specifically from a point of view adjacent to an ancestor. What really rocked me is that both of these stories did indeed take place at the same time. The United States was rounding up and imprisoning Japanese-American residents and citizens at the same time in history that the Nazis were imprisoning and exterminating Jews and other "undesirables." This should have been an obvious parallel, and I clearly knew that both happened at the same time, but this book really hammered it home in a way that I felt in my bones.
And I think one might be tempted to excuse the U.S. policy as not being as bad, not as extreme, based on the necessity of military strategy, etc. And while clearly one country pursued extermination while the other was merely incredibly restrictive, both policies removed justice and liberty and utilized ham-fisted corrupt bigotry instead. It's like the argument that some enslavers were "nice" -- sure, it's better to be fed well, but slaves still weren't free. And while Kiku's story itself does not offer much comparison between the Internment and the Holocaust, it does drive deeply into the parallels between history and the present day, and it does address the deeply disturbing historical trauma that ripples into the future to affect the descendants of those initially affected.
Kiku herself is displaced in time and witnesses her grandmother's journey to an Internment Camp. Living in that time period for about six months, Kiku becomes intimately familiar with camp life, camp dangers, and learns about the resistance within the camp that took place against the unjust imprisonment. At the risk of being too much of a lesson, at the end Kiku discusses her experience with her mother. Their conversation addresses the weight and consequences of memory, the unintended aftereffects of imprisonment on some of these U.S. citizens with Japanese heritage, the myth and danger of the model minority, and the raw tenderness of this family history. Personally, I found this conversation refreshing and a much needed release from the build up of the story itself. It made me wonder why the Holocaust is such a known and written-about story (and has been for many years), and why the history of the Japanese American Internment camps are typically more sanitized and have only recently gotten some much needed attention. Possibly for similar reasons that account for why Hitler is the "bad guy" of WWII, but Joseph Stalin largely flies under the radar.
And I think one might be tempted to excuse the U.S. policy as not being as bad, not as extreme, based on the necessity of military strategy, etc. And while clearly one country pursued extermination while the other was merely incredibly restrictive, both policies removed justice and liberty and utilized ham-fisted corrupt bigotry instead. It's like the argument that some enslavers were "nice" -- sure, it's better to be fed well, but slaves still weren't free. And while Kiku's story itself does not offer much comparison between the Internment and the Holocaust, it does drive deeply into the parallels between history and the present day, and it does address the deeply disturbing historical trauma that ripples into the future to affect the descendants of those initially affected.
Kiku herself is displaced in time and witnesses her grandmother's journey to an Internment Camp. Living in that time period for about six months, Kiku becomes intimately familiar with camp life, camp dangers, and learns about the resistance within the camp that took place against the unjust imprisonment. At the risk of being too much of a lesson, at the end Kiku discusses her experience with her mother. Their conversation addresses the weight and consequences of memory, the unintended aftereffects of imprisonment on some of these U.S. citizens with Japanese heritage, the myth and danger of the model minority, and the raw tenderness of this family history. Personally, I found this conversation refreshing and a much needed release from the build up of the story itself. It made me wonder why the Holocaust is such a known and written-about story (and has been for many years), and why the history of the Japanese American Internment camps are typically more sanitized and have only recently gotten some much needed attention. Possibly for similar reasons that account for why Hitler is the "bad guy" of WWII, but Joseph Stalin largely flies under the radar.
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A trip through America’s history of subjugation through magical realism and personal narrative.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
emotional
informative
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I read this for the book approval committee for my school district. I loved it except for its politics. It will offend ultra- conservatives. I hope it passes! There were a lot of interment facts I didn't know!