Fact Friday: Peace is a Chain Reaction: How World War II Japanese Balloon Bombs Brought People of Two Nations Together by Tanya Lee Stone

Image: Candlewick Press

Peace is a Chain Reaction: How World War II Japanese Balloon Bombs Brought People of Two Nations Together by Tanya Lee Stone. 176 p. Candlewick Press, September, 2022. 9780763676865. (own)

Happy Friday! Did you know that the Japanese military dropped bombs on U.S. soil during WWII? Seventh and eighth graders who read the picture book biography, Thirty Minutes over Oregon: a Japanese Pilot's World War II Story, know about Nobuo Fujita, the pilot who flew his aircraft from a submarine to drop a bomb in Oregon. It landed harmlessly in the woods. This past summer, I read our Fact Friday feature and learned of a second incident. Peace is a Chain Reaction: How World War II Japanese Balloon Bombs Brought People of Two Nations Together by Tanya Lee Stone presents the story from multiple perspectives in a succinct, highly readable narrative that is profusely illustrated with photos, drawings and maps. Beginning with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and the resulting internment of Japanese Americans, then explains the technology behind balloon bombs and how they were able to float on air currents to the U.S. Unfortunately, a group of people, mostly children, out walking in the woods, came upon an unexploded bomb and six died. Ms. Stone weaves the story of Yuzuru Takeshita, an internee with the stories of the survivors and siblings and townspeople with the story of the factory in Japan, where high school students, mostly girls, were tasked with constructing the bombs. Extensive back matter shows how well researched this work was. Highly recommended!

Fact Friday: Enemy Child: The Story of Norman Mineta, a Boy Imprisoned in a Japanese American Internment Camp During World War II by Andrea Warren

Image: Holiday House

Enemy Child: The Story of Norman Mineta, a Boy Imprisoned in a Japanese American Internment Camp During World War II by Andrea Warren. 224 p. Margaret Ferguson Books/ Holiday House, April, 2019. 9780823441518. (Review of finished purchased copy.) 


Fact Friday features Enemy Child: the story of Norman Mineta, a Boy Imprisoned in a Japanese American Internment Camp During World War II by Andrea Warren. A lesser known but no less shameful part of our history during the second World War is the fact that thousands of U.S. citizens of Japanese descent effectively lost everything - their rights, their savings, their jobs and their homes. They were ordered to report to detention centers and treated like prisoners. Norman Mineta was ten at the time. He was an American citizen who loved baseball. This is the story of his family's experience.

The book is beautifully designed with glossy pages, heft, plenty of white space and more than eighty photos. Plentiful back matter provides additional information. An absolute must-read for any student of history, but more importantly for everyone else.

Fact Friday and Review: Write to Me: letters from Japanese American children to the librarian they left behind by Cynthia Grady

Write to Me: letters from Japanese American children to the librarian they left behind by Cynthia Grady. Illustrated by Amiko Hirao. unpgd. Charlesbridge Publishers, January, 2018. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publisher.)

Fact Friday features Write to Me: letters from Japanese American children to the librarian they left behind by Cynthia Grady. Illustrated by Amiko Hirao. When Miss Clara E. Breed's young patrons turned in their San Diego library cards to her because they and their families were being forced to move, she gave each one a penny postcard with the request to write so she knew where they were. She went to the train station with a heavy heart to see them off. When the children wrote, Miss Breed's heart broke. She sent books and packages. She even visited the internment camp. She wrote articles about the harsh conditions and asked for donations. Information from the backmatter reveals that around thirty children sent over 250 letters to Miss Breed over the course of their imprisonment. 

Using excerpts from the letters that were sent to Miss Breed, author Cynthia Grady weaves an emotional biography of an extraordinary woman. The pastel illustrations soften the harshness, but convey an appropriate bleakness for young readers. Endpages depict black and white photos from the time, with FDR signing the declaration of war against Japan, notices ordering "persons of Japanese ancestry" to leave their homes bringing only what they could carry, and more.

An author's note, notable dates from Breed's life, a selected history of Japanese people in the U.S., source notes, selected bibliography, suggestions for further reading and photo credits conclude this must-read biography. 

#tbt: Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki

Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki. Illustrated by Dom Lee. unpgd. Lee & Low Books, March, 1993. 9781880000014.

#tbt features Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki. 2018 is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of this "groundbreaking" book. Back in 1993, there weren't many books at all, let alone books for children about this shameful part of US history. An unnamed narrator describes how he and his family were forced into a concentration camp and the terrible conditions that existed there. Fortunately for him, the children formed a baseball league and the camaraderie that resulted provided hope and comfort. Visit Lee & Low's web page for the book for lots of curriculum use ideas.