Svetlana's Reads and Views

Name of Book: Eagle and Crane Author: Suzanne Rindell ISBN: 978-0-399-18429-1 Publisher: G.P Putnam's Sons Type of book: Internment camps, Japanese male/American female, 1860s?- 1940s, history, feud, love triangle, California, aviation, barnstorming act, friendship, epic, family, loyalty Year it was published: 2018 Summary: Two young daredevil flyers confront ugly truths and family secrets during the U.S. internment of Japanese citizens during World War II, from the author of The Other Typist and Three-Martini Lunch. Louis Thorn and Haruto "Harry" Yamada -- Eagle and Crane -- are the star attractions of Earl Shaw's Flying Circus, a daredevil (and not exactly legal) flying act that traverses Depression-era California. The young men have a complicated relationship, thanks to the Thorn family's belief that the Yamadas -- Japanese immigrants -- stole land that should have stayed in the Thorn family. When Louis and Harry become aerial stuntmen...

Title: Manzanar to Mount Whitney; The Life and Times of a Lost Hiker Author: Hank Umemoto First copyright date: 2013 Type of book: Issei and Nisei, World War II, hiking, Japanese-American, racism, Japanese-American life before WWII, struggle, work  General subject matter: Nature, hiking, internment camp life, Nisei life, Asian-American, World War II, life after World War II Special features: Umm none, sorry to say.  Price: $16.95 dollars ISBN: 978-1-59714-202-1 Summary: In 1942, fourteen-year-old Hank Umemoto gazed out a barrack window at Manzanar Internment Camp, saw the silhouette of Mount Whitney against an indigo sky, and vowed that one day he would climb to the top. Fifty-seven years and a lifetime of stories later, at the age of seventy-one, he reached the summit. Part memoir and part hiker's diary, Manzanar to mount Whitney gives an intimate, rollicking account of Japanese American life California before and after World War II. As he wanders through ...

Name of Book: Bridge of Scarlet Leaves Author: Kristina Yoshida McMorris ISBN: 978-0-7582-4685-1 Publisher: Kensington Fiction Type of book: 1941-1946?, friendship, loyalty, brotherhood, crush, interracial relationship, Japanese male/American female, music, secrets, letting go, World War II, Internment camps, fighting, POW Year it was published: 2012 Summary: Los Angeles, 1941. Violinist Maddie Kern's life seemed destined to unfold with the predictable elegance of a Bach concerto. Then she fell in love with Lane Moritomo. Her brother's best friend, Lane is the handsome, ambitious son of Japanese immigrants. Maddie was prepared for disapproval from their families, but when Pearl Harbor is bombed the day after she and Lane elope, the full force of their decision becomes apparent. In the eyes of a fearful nation, Lane is no longer just an outsider, but an enemy. When her husband is interned at a war relocation camp, Maddie follows, sacrificing her Juilliard ambi...

Name of Book: Journey to Topaz Author: Yoshiko Uchida ISBN: 0-916870-85-5 Publisher: Creative Arts Book Company Part of a Series: Journey Home sequel Type of book: WW2, young adult, Topaz camp, Japanese-Americans, Issei, Nisei, camp conditions, desert, 1941-1942 or 1943? Year it was published: 1971 Summary: Like any eleven-year-old, Yuki Sakane is looking forward to christmas when her peaceful world is suddenly shattered by the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Father is taken by the FBI, and she, her mother and older brother, Ken, are uprooted from their home and shipped with thousands of West Coast Japanese Americans to the horse stalls of Tanforan Racetrack and then to the bleak desert concentration camp called Topaz. There Yuki and her new friends, Emi and her grandparents, face terrifying dust storms, new hardships and finally a terrible tragedy that rocks the entire camp. Disillusioned, Ken must make a heart-wrenching decision, and Yuki faces another painful separati...

Name of Book: Journey Home Author: Yoshiko Uchida ISBN: 0-689-71641-9 Publisher: Aladdin Paperbacks Type of book: 1940s, WWII, Internment camp, getting on with life, survivors, for young adults Year it was published: 1978 Summary: World War II is raging. Yuki and her Japanese-American family are forced from their home in California and imprisoned in a US concentration camp called Topaz. After months of unbearable life in Topaz, Yuki and her family are finally released. They are free, but are left with nothing. WIth nowhere to go, and no money to get there, the road to rebuilding their lives seems endless. But in the end, it is their unyielding faith and courage that guide them home, reunited and hopeful. Journey Home is an extraordinary story of one's family struggle to survive one of the most tragic episodes in US history. Characters: The story is told through Yuki's eyes. (Something interesting: Yuki means snow in Japanese.) The characters that do ...