So Far from the Sea

Wow. I checked this out to read to a class of ninth graders as part of a lesson on World War II relocation camps. I just gave it a test run by reading it out loud to myself, and honestly, I don't know if I can do it. By the middle of the book I found my voice breaking, and by the end I couldn't read it out loud any more. From an historical perspective, it is flawlessly done, with gorgeous illustrations, and it provides readers with a very realistic view of the Japanese American experience during the war. It's beautifully written and captures real emotion in a slice-of-life narrative about a family returning to a now-closed internment camp thirty years later to pay their last respects to the kids' grandfather, one of those who died at camp. The symbolism is poignant and packed with meaning--if you can handle the emotion that it will dredge up in you, I highly recommend it as a way of helping students to develop empathy for and understanding of victims of racial discrimination.

My daughter got this from the library at school this week and immediately my husband and I decided this is a book she should have. In the 5th grade living in Missoula, Montana, I was told by my Japanese-American teacher that Missoula had been the site of such a camp. I didn't want to believe her because I thought of the prison camps in Germany and immediately equated the two. Though the history of the American prison camps has been all-but buried, it's works like this that will allow us to teach our children and hopefully they will learn from the mistakes made. This heart-wrenching tale is of a family forced away from the sea where the grandfather had his boat and his fishing business to the camp in the Sierra Nevadas. The small boy at the camp later took his own family to the site to leave offerings at his father's grave at the camp. During this time, his daughter, Laura, left his cub scout scarf - an acknowledgement of a childhood stolen and that they were no less American than those who had imprisoned them there. The lessons of empathy and love are needed now more than ever. I would HIGHLY suggest this book to anyone able to read. My first grader has checked it out two weeks in a row - this is one book worth owning!

Every time I read this story to the children in the library I worked at I cried. A year later I still remember it vividly. The book showed the atrocity of what we did simply by showing the emotions of Japanese-Americans 50 years later. One truly feels for the father uprooted from his life and culture; the grandfather uprooted from the sea and his fishing. I can relate to the tragedy of being removed from the water. Eve Bunting builds to a dramatic, emotional climax- which is not easy to do in a short children's book. Chris Soetpiet's illustrations are beautiful, with excellent use of both color and black and white. And the short historical synopsis at the end provides opportunity to discuss with children the reality behind the story.

The site of the Manzanar Relocation Center is found on Hwy 395 South in the Owens Valley of California at the foothills of the Sierras. I have stopped there on several occasions and imagined life as it might have been for the Japanese held there during WWII. Also, I have seen the display of artifacts and photographs at the Eastern California Museum in nearby Independence, CA. It is worth visiting.I had read stories written for adults on this topic, but Eve Bunting's story for children truly captured my heart. It is beautifully written and well illustrated and moved me to tears. It seemed especially poignant now in the light of the recent events resulting from terrorism; thank God we no longer suspect every one. I will always remember reading this book.