I’m a bit older now but wanted to learn more about the injustice suffered by the Japanese families. Most of the Japanese who were evacuated never talked about this sad part of their lives and it was sad. “I have been reading many books by Yoshiko Uchida because I was a very young child when my parents were evacuated to the relocation (concentration) camps during World War II. “A poignant story sensitively told and illustrated.”- Children’s Literature “Will find a ready readership and prove indispensable for introducing this dark episode in American history”- School Library Journal “Yardley’s hushed, realistic paintings add to the poignancy of Uchida’s narrative, and help to underscore the absurdity and injustice suffered by Japanese American families such as Emi’s.” - Publishers Weekly, starred review Her parents immigrated to California in the early 20th century. She was born in Alameda, California to parents who were both from Japan. Yoshiko Uchida wrote children’s books about the Japanese-American experience. “How will I ever remember my best friend?” she asks herself.

For her mother’s sake, Emi doesn’t say how unhappy she is.īut on the first day of camp, when Emi discovers she has lost her heart bracelet, she can’t help wanting to cry. The United States and Japan are at war. Seven-year-old Emi doesn’t want to leave her friends, her school, her house yet as her mother tells her, they have no choice, because they are Japanese-American.

Yoshiko Uchida draws on her own childhood as a Japanese-American during World War II in an internment camp to tell the poignant story of a young girl’s discovery of the power of memory.Įmi and her family are being sent to a place called an internment camp, where all Japanese-Americans must go.

The bracelet by yoshiko uchida