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bibliobrandie's review
4.0
Historical fiction that presents a different look at the internment of Japanese Americans in the United States during World War II. Sixth grade students are studying Japan so I used this book (along with On the Horizon and They Called Us Enemy) to offer different perspectives.
This story focuses on twelve year old Hanako and her family, who renounced their US citizenship and were “repatriated” to Japan (even though they were born in the United States and she’s never been to Japan) where they are going to live with her grandparents. Hanako comes face to face with the brutality of the war and although she loves her grandparents (I loved the grandparents so much), she questions if Japan is the right place. She doesn't feel like she fits in anywhere, no longer and US Citizen and not feeling like she fits in with her Japanese classmates, she is just searching for a place to belong.
This story focuses on twelve year old Hanako and her family, who renounced their US citizenship and were “repatriated” to Japan (even though they were born in the United States and she’s never been to Japan) where they are going to live with her grandparents. Hanako comes face to face with the brutality of the war and although she loves her grandparents (I loved the grandparents so much), she questions if Japan is the right place. She doesn't feel like she fits in anywhere, no longer and US Citizen and not feeling like she fits in with her Japanese classmates, she is just searching for a place to belong.
nichole1988's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.25
libwinnie's review
3.0
The author does a stellar job of recreating life as experienced by some Japanese Americans (Nikkei and Nisei) after WWII. The sense of displacement in the US and Japan that Hanako experiences is haunting. A long book and at times slow moving. There are also a number of subplots that are introduced, but never really go anywhere.
arrrgh_schooling's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
mbrandmaier's review
4.0
A part of American history that is usually rugswept (the imprisonments of Japanese Americans during WWII and the forced renunciation of American citizenship afterward) is featured in this story.
Hanako and her family are sent via a ship to Japan, where her grandparents live. She and her brother Akira must adapt to a life of hard work and poverty with her tenant farmer grandparents.
Hanako and her family are sent via a ship to Japan, where her grandparents live. She and her brother Akira must adapt to a life of hard work and poverty with her tenant farmer grandparents.
ngreader's review
3.0
This was my last read for AAPI Heritage Month and this one just didn't land. It was slow to start, the characters felt strange and the whole book just moved very slowly. It is an excellent exploration to see what happened to some Japanese-American families *after* WWII and the incarceration, but overall this book was mediocre and I can see middle-schoolers struggling to understand what exactly is going on.
tomikorobson's review
4.0
4.5. I’ve read a lot of books around the subject of Japanese Canadian and Japanese American internment in WWII but this children’s book gave me a story I hadn’t considered before - the story of an American family, interned because of their heritage who choose to be expatriated back to Japan after the war and their experience as others both in the US and in Japan.
onepageatatime's review
5.0
This book was heartbreaking. Thus book follows a Japanese American family in the US who give up their US citizenship after WWII. They were held in interment camps during WWII and then shipped back to Japan afterwards. This book is told from a child's perspective which makes it that much more heartbreaking. I laughed and cried while listening to this audiobook. I knew this book would be hard to listen to because it is based on something that did happen but I'm glad that I did because I dont want anything like this to happen again and you have to be educated to make sure history does repeat itself.