She also kept a journal to record her thoughts and events.Įnveloped in love and tradition at home, Yoshiko weathered the prejudice she sometimes faced. Yoshiko loved to write, and her stories played out on pieces of brown wrapping paper. Though the Great Depression raged, the Uchida family enjoyed comforts because of Takashi's well-paying job and their own frugality. Her father worked as a businessman for Mitsui and Company in San Francisco, and Iku wrote poetry, passing along her love of literature to her girls. Yoshiko, born on November 24, 1921, was the second daughter of Japanese immigrant parents Takashi and Iku. '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 'How will I ever remember my best friend?' she asks herself. But on the first day of camp, when Emi discovers she has lost her heart bracelet, she can't help wanting to cry.

For her mother's sake, Emi doesn't say how unhappy she is.

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