Awards

• Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year
• Eureka! Children's Book Award
• Junior Library Guild Selection

Overview

Full Product Details

9781541559011

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Reviews

Kiyo Sato's story opens on her last night of freedom in February 1942. Ever since the Japanese Air Force bombed Pearl Harbor on December 8, 1941, Kiyo has felt shunned by her fellow college students. Now, against the urging of his wife Eleanor, President Roosevelt has ordered that all people with one-sixteenth or more of Japanese heritage must leave the West Coast, specifically the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. They must abandon their home, work, and daily life; they are only allowed to take one suitcase of belongings each. As Kiyo helps her seven younger brothers and sisters pack, her mother anxiously prepares food for the journey to nowhere and cleans the house for their return. Little do they know that they will not return for years, that their father will have to sell some of his land at low prices, and that his prized tractor will disappear during the war years. Nor do they expect that their house will be occupied by a single mother and her children when they return home in 1945, after three years of incarceration. Author Connie Goldsmith, a writing colleague of Kiyo Sato's, traces the arc of her life as a young student and Nisei (American son or daughter born to Japanese immigrant) at the beginning of WWII through her life in internment camps in California and Arizona to her role as a prominent speaker on the history of the American internment of United States citizens of Japanese heritage and the loss of their property and rights during and after the war. Throughout the book, Goldsmith emphasizes the strong values shared by Kiyo and her siblings, six of whom served in the U.S. military. Kiyo served as a nurse in the Korean War and then found work as a school nurse. With their parents, the children cleaned up their neglected farm and house and returned to the farming business their family had started. However, even as a student in college, Kiyo discovered that telling her story was a way to share aspects of American history unknown to many Americans. Restoring that hidden history became her avocation. This book continues her work, by bringing her story to a wider audience of young teens. Recommended for school and public libraries, as well as classes in American history and leadership.--Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD) -- Website (2/28/2021 12:00:00 AM) Illuminates the story of a Japanese American activist's experiences with internment and her perseverance in rebuilding her life. In 1941, Sato's family was living near Sacramento, California, on her family's small but successful farm. Seven of her younger siblings were in school, another was in the U.S. Army, and Sato herself had just entered college. A year later, everything had changed: In February 1942, the U.S. government forced anyone with one-sixteenth or more Japanese ancestry into incarceration camps. In a straightforward and affecting narrative, the authors take readers through a personal journey well embedded in its historical context. The Satos' experience is recounted alongside the dominant sentiments and political policies of the times. Sidebars further elucidate events, enhanced by photographs and archival documents. One such inset explains the contracting of photographers to paint internment in a positive light. Another examines the euphemistic language used to influence public perceptions of this suspension of civil rights. After the war, Sato pursued a career in nursing in the U.S. Air Force and in public health. A Korean War veteran and president of the Sacramento branch of the Japanese American Citizens League, she has been active as a public speaker, making school visits to educate youth about internment and advocating for human rights. This timely and important story puts a human face on a shameful chapter in American history. A moving, insightful portrait.--Kirkus Reviews -- Journal (7/1/2020 12:00:00 AM) The eldest of nine children, Kiyo Sato was living on her family's California strawberry farm in 1942 when a government order forced them and other Japanese Americans on the West Coast to abandon their homes and board trains taking them to internment camps. Goldsmith describes the harsh, overcrowded, unsanitary conditions there as well as the courage and dignity that Sato's parents brought to the situation. When Sato was allowed to leave for college, she did, though she missed her family, particularly at Christmas. While the book concentrates on the years during and immediately following WWII, it also traces Sato's life as a nurse in the Korean War and in California schools, while focusing on her tireless, ongoing activism and public speaking related to her family's painful experience of unjustified incarceration based on prejudice and wartime hysteria. Goldsmith's thorough research includes Sato's autobiography and a series of interviews with Sato and with other family members. Illustrations, particularly photos, appear throughout the book. This informative biography sheds light on a dark chapter in American history.--Booklist -- Journal (6/15/2020 12:00:00 AM)

The eldest of nine children, Kiyo Sato was living on her family's California strawberry farm in 1942 when a government order forced them and other Japanese Americans on the West Coast to abandon their homes and board trains taking them to internment camps. Goldsmith describes the harsh, overcrowded, unsanitary conditions there as well as the courage and dignity that Sato's parents brought to the situation. When Sato was allowed to leave for college, she did, though she missed her family, particularly at Christmas. While the book concentrates on the years during and immediately following WWII, it also traces Sato's life as a nurse in the Korean War and in California schools, while focusing on her tireless, ongoing activism and public speaking related to her family's painful experience of unjustified incarceration based on prejudice and wartime hysteria. Goldsmith's thorough research includes Sato's autobiography and a series of interviews with Sato and with other family members. Illustrations, particularly photos, appear throughout the book. This informative biography sheds light on a dark chapter in American history.--Booklist -- Journal Illuminates the story of a Japanese American activist's experiences with internment and her perseverance in rebuilding her life. In 1941, Sato's family was living near Sacramento, California, on her family's small but successful farm. Seven of her younger siblings were in school, another was in the U.S. Army, and Sato herself had just entered college. A year later, everything had changed: In February 1942, the U.S. government forced anyone with one-sixteenth or more Japanese ancestry into incarceration camps. In a straightforward and affecting narrative, the authors take readers through a personal journey well embedded in its historical context. The Satos' experience is recounted alongside the dominant sentiments and political policies of the times. Sidebars further elucidate events, enhanced by photographs and archival documents. One such inset explains the contracting of photographers to paint internment in a positive light. Another examines the euphemistic language used to influence public perceptions of this suspension of civil rights. After the war, Sato pursued a career in nursing in the U.S. Air Force and in public health. A Korean War veteran and president of the Sacramento branch of the Japanese American Citizens League, she has been active as a public speaker, making school visits to educate youth about internment and advocating for human rights. This timely and important story puts a human face on a shameful chapter in American history. A moving, insightful portrait.--Kirkus Reviews -- Journal

Illuminates the story of a Japanese American activist's experiences with internment and her perseverance in rebuilding her life. In 1941, Sato's family was living near Sacramento, California, on her family's small but successful farm. Seven of her younger siblings were in school, another was in the U.S. Army, and Sato herself had just entered college. A year later, everything had changed: In February 1942, the U.S. government forced anyone with one-sixteenth or more Japanese ancestry into incarceration camps. In a straightforward and affecting narrative, the authors take readers through a personal journey well embedded in its historical context. The Satos' experience is recounted alongside the dominant sentiments and political policies of the times. Sidebars further elucidate events, enhanced by photographs and archival documents. One such inset explains the contracting of photographers to paint internment in a positive light. Another examines the euphemistic language used to influence public perceptions of this suspension of civil rights. After the war, Sato pursued a career in nursing in the U.S. Air Force and in public health. A Korean War veteran and president of the Sacramento branch of the Japanese American Citizens League, she has been active as a public speaker, making school visits to educate youth about internment and advocating for human rights. This timely and important story puts a human face on a shameful chapter in American history. A moving, insightful portrait. --Kirkus Reviews -- (7/1/2020 12:00:00 AM) Kiyo Sato's story opens on her last night of freedom in February 1942. Ever since the Japanese Air Force bombed Pearl Harbor on December 8, 1941, Kiyo has felt shunned by her fellow college students. Now, against the urging of his wife Eleanor, President Roosevelt has ordered that all people with one-sixteenth or more of Japanese heritage must leave the West Coast, specifically the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. They must abandon their home, work, and daily life; they are only allowed to take one suitcase of belongings each. As Kiyo helps her seven younger brothers and sisters pack, her mother anxiously prepares food for the journey to nowhere and cleans the house for their return. Little do they know that they will not return for years, that their father will have to sell some of his land at low prices, and that his prized tractor will disappear during the war years. Nor do they expect that their house will be occupied by a single mother and her children when they return home in 1945, after three years of incarceration. Author Connie Goldsmith, a writing colleague of Kiyo Sato's, traces the arc of her life as a young student and Nisei (American son or daughter born to Japanese immigrant) at the beginning of WWII through her life in internment camps in California and Arizona to her role as a prominent speaker on the history of the American internment of United States citizens of Japanese heritage and the loss of their property and rights during and after the war. Throughout the book, Goldsmith emphasizes the strong values shared by Kiyo and her siblings, six of whom served in the U.S. military. Kiyo served as a nurse in the Korean War and then found work as a school nurse. With their parents, the children cleaned up their neglected farm and house and returned to the farming business their family had started. However, even as a student in college, Kiyo discovered that telling her story was a way to share aspects of American history unknown to many Americans. Restoring that hidden history became her avocation. This book continues her work, by bringing her story to a wider audience of young teens. Recommended for school and public libraries, as well as classes in American history and leadership. --Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD) -- (2/28/2021 12:00:00 AM) The eldest of nine children, Kiyo Sato was living on her family's California strawberry farm in 1942 when a government order forced them and other Japanese Americans on the West Coast to abandon their homes and board trains taking them to internment camps. Goldsmith describes the harsh, overcrowded, unsanitary conditions there as well as the courage and dignity that Sato's parents brought to the situation. When Sato was allowed to leave for college, she did, though she missed her family, particularly at Christmas. While the book concentrates on the years during and immediately following WWII, it also traces Sato's life as a nurse in the Korean War and in California schools, while focusing on her tireless, ongoing activism and public speaking related to her family's painful experience of unjustified incarceration based on prejudice and wartime hysteria. Goldsmith's thorough research includes Sato's autobiography and a series of interviews with Sato and with other family members. Illustrations, particularly photos, appear throughout the book. This informative biography sheds light on a dark chapter in American history. --Booklist -- (6/15/2020 12:00:00 AM)

Author Information

Connie Goldsmith is a registered nurse with a bachelor of science degree in nursing and a master of public administration degree in health care. She has written numerous books for YA readers and nearly two hundred magazine articles. Her recent books include Kiyo Sato: From a WWII Japanese Internment Camp to a Life of Service (2020), a Junior Library Guild selection; Running on Empty: Sleeplessness in American Teens (2021); Understanding Coronaviruses: SARS, MERS, and the COVID-19 Pandemic (2021); and Bombs Over Bikini: The World's First Nuclear Disaster (2014), a Junior Library Guild selection, a Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, an Association of Children's Librarians of Northern California Distinguished Book, and an SCBWI Crystal Kite Winner. She lives in Sacramento, California. Visit her website at http://www.conniegoldsmith.com/.

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