Browse > Interest Level > Grades 3-5

83 articles

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Dear Miss Breed (play)

Plays
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
Communication – verbal and nonverbal, Evils of racism, Growing up – pain or pleasure
No availability

Play about a San Diego librarian who corresponded with incarcerated Japanese American children during World War II. Playwright Joanne Oppenheim adapted Dear Miss Breed from her children's book Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During World War II and a Librarian Who Made a Difference .

Dash (book)

Books
Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8
Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8
Children's, History
Companionship as salvation, Evils of racism, Displacement, Heartbreak of betrayal
Widely available

Dash, Kirby Larson's book for 4-6 grade readers, tells the story of 11-year-old Mitsi Kashino and how the love for her dog Dash gives her strength while she and her family are sent to an incarceration camp.

Fish for Jimmy (book)

Books
Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
Grades 3-5
Children's, Picture book
Growing up - pain or pleasure, Heroism - real and perceived, Family - blessing or curse
Widely available

Fish for Jimmy: Inspired by One Family's Experience in a Japanese American Internment Camp , written and illustrated by Katie Yamasaki, is based on the author's great-grandfather's family experience at the Granada camp in Amache, Colorado. This picture book for young readers which expresses in few words an older brother's act of kindness and daring that kept a family strong during their imprisonment.

The Fences Between Us: The Diary of Piper Davis (book)

Books
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Children's, Historical Fiction
Coming of age, Injustice, Loss of innocence
Widely available

Novel for elementary and middle schoolers about a young white teenage girl's experience of World War II including the Japanese American removal and incarceration told in the form of a diary. The Fences Between Us is part of the Dear America series, all of which are written in the form of diaries by young women/girls from various key moments in U.S. history.

Enemy Child: The Story of Norman Mineta (book)

Books
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Biography, Children's
Growing up – pain or pleasure, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice, Power of the past
Widely available

Short biography of American politician Norman Mineta by Andrea Warren, published in 2019. The book, which is written for young adult readers, focuses on Mineta's childhood, with an emphasis on the years he and his family were incarcerated at Heart Mountain . The book includes historical War Relocation Authority photographs and a few personal photos from the Mineta family collection.

Flowers from Mariko (book)

Books
Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
Grades 3-5
Children's, Historical Fiction
Growing up – pain or pleasure, Heartbreak of betrayal, Optimism – power or folly, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice, Working class struggles
Widely available

Picture book for children about a Japanese American family's World War II incarceration and difficulties in restarting their lives after the war, told from the perspective of a young girl of about nine of ten. Mariko, her little sister Emi, and their parents live in Los Angeles before the war, where their father works as a gardener. When they are forced to leave, he leaves his gardening truck and equipment with their landlord. When Japanese Americans are allowed to return to the West Coast in 1945, the family makes plans to return. However their father finds that his truck and equipment have been sold, and the former landlord is nowhere to be found. The family is forced to live in a government-run trailer park upon their return, and her father is unable to find work. One day, he finds some old equipment in the trash, along with some flower seeds. …

Fred Korematsu Speaks Up (book)

Books
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Children's, History
Heroism – real and perceived, Injustice, Rights - individual or societal
Widely available

Book for middle school audiences on Fred Korematsu , who challenged the forced removal of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Home of the Brave (book)

Books
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Children's
Injustice, Knowledge versus ignorance, Power of the past, Progress – real or illusion
Widely available

Children's picture book by Allen Say inspired by the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Heroes (book)

Books
Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
Children's, Picture Book
War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy, Growing up - pain or pleasure, Heroism - real and perceived
Widely available

Children's picture book by Ken Mochizuki and illustrated by Dom Lee about a young boy facing Asian stereotypes and bullying in the postwar years. Donnie Okada is continually made to play the part of the "enemy" in war games with friends, even as he tries to explain that his father and uncles served on the American side. A school visit by Donnie's father and uncle in their uniforms and medals changes the way he and his friends view their histories.

Hello Maggie! (book)

Books
Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
Children's, Picture Book
Companionship as salvation, Growing up – pain or pleasure, Loss of innocence
Widely available

Autobiographical children's picture book about a pet bird who enlivens a Japanese American family's confinement in a World War II concentration camp.

American Dreams (book)

Books
Grades 3-5
Grades 3-5
Historical Fiction, Children's
Evils of racism, Coming of age, Injustice, Growing up – pain or pleasure
Available

Chapter book for children about two eleven-year-old girls in Hollywood, one white and one Japanese American, in the weeks just before and just after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Experience of Japanese Americans in the United States: A Teacher Resource Manual (curricula)

Curricula
Pre-K, Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
Displacement, Evils of racism, Immigrant experience, Injustice, Knowledge versus ignorance, Overcoming - fear, weakness, vice, Patriotism - positive side or complications, Rights - individual or societal, War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
Widely available

The Advisory Council to the Ethnic Heritage Project of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) developed, printed and distributed this manual in 1975. It was one of the first efforts to provide K–12 instructional materials about the history and achievements of Japanese Americans in the United States. The aim of the manual was to counter existing teaching materials which contained information that "portray(ed) persons of Japanese ancestry in a distorted or stereotypic fashion" (page 6). In addition, the authors sought to see Japanese Americans represented in the educational system's instructional framework of cultural pluralism.

The Journal of Ben Uchida: Citizen 13559, Mirror Lake Internment Camp (book)

Books
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Grades 3-5
Children's, Historical Fiction
Convention and rebellion, Growing up – pain or pleasure, Injustice
Widely available

Chapter book for children by Barry Denenberg in the form of a journal by a young Nisei boy covering the first ten months of incarceration at the fictitious "Mirror Lake Internment Camp."

The Journey (book)

Books
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
Grades 3-5
Picture Book, Children's
Evils of racism, Expression through art, Power of the past
Widely available

A children's book by Sansei author and artist Sheila Hamanaka, published by Orchard Books in 1990. The Journey: Japanese Americans, Racism and Renewal is based on a 25-foot mural painted by Hamanaka that mixes the history of Japanese Americans with an emphasis on the American concentration camps of World War II with her own family's experience using a mixture of Japanese iconography, realism and caricature. The book features both close-ups of the mural as well as a panoramic view of all five panels, which are accompanied by the author's text, giving her perspective on history, tradition, and hope. It also includes a preface and afterword reflecting on these themes.

Take Me Home: Curricular Resource Materials (curricula)

Curricula
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Injustice, Growing up - pain or pleasure, Power of the past, Rights - individual or societal
Widely available

This guide supports the instructional use of the 15-minute video, Take Me Home: A Child's Experience of Internment . The authors of the 19-page resource target grades 6 – 8, however; the materials can be adapted to upper elementary as well. Although the film and curriculum materials were produced in Washington, their use has broad application as they are not specific (other than the mention of the academic standards) to Washington State.

Take Me Home: A Child's Experience of Internment (film)

Films and Video
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Documentary
Injustice, Growing up – pain or pleasure, Power of the past
Available

Short educational film that explores the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans from a child's perspective.

Sylvia and Aki (book)

Books
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Grades 3-5
Historical Fiction, Children's
=Coming of age, Convention and rebellion, Evils of racism, Immigrant experience, Rights - individual or societal
Widely available

Chapter book for children by Winifred Conkling centering on the the Mendezes and the Munemitsus, the two families behind the landmark Mendez v. Westminster school desegregation case.

Teacher's Guide: The Bill of Rights and the Japanese American World War II Experience (curricula)

Curricula
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
Injustice, Patriotism - positive side or complications, Rights - individual or societal
Limited availability

The forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II suspended their constitutional rights and civil liberties. This guide, for teachers of grades 4–12, focuses on this historical event to examine individual rights and the shared responsibility that students have to protect the rights of all individuals, even during times of national crisis.

The View from Within: Japanese American Art from the Internment Camps, 1942-1945 (exhibition)

Museum Exhibitions
Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
Art, History
Expression through art, Displacement, Injustice
Limited availability

The first-ever national exhibition of more than 130 paintings and other works of art produced by Japanese American artists during their incarceration in the World War II American concentration camps, timed to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066 , which authorized the mass incarceration of over 120,000 Japanese Americans. The exhibition was curated by Karin Higa and jointly coordinated by the Japanese American National Museum , the UCLA Wight Art Gallery, and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. It first opened at the Wight Art Gallery in Los Angeles on October 13, 1992, and ran until December 6, 1992, then subsequently traveled to the San Jose Museum of Art (January 15-April 10, 1994), Salt Lake Art Center (July 1994), Honolulu Academy of Arts (September 1994), and the Queens Museum New York (May 11-July 16, 1995).

We the People: The Stage Production (film)

Films and Video
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
Documentary
Expression through art, Growing up – pain or pleasure, Loss of innocence, Power of tradition
Available

Short film that documents the performance of the elementary school age students of Jan Ken Po Gakko in Sacramento on July 20, 2000. The production is highlighted by a play performed by the students based on Mary Tsukamoto and Elizabeth Pinkerton's book We the People .

What, No Sushi? My Solar-Powered History at a Japanese-American Internment Camp (book)

Books
Grades 3-5
Grades 3-5
Injustice, Power of the past, Family – blessing or curse
Widely available

Book aimed at elementary school children about three young brothers from Alaska who take a time machine to experience the mass exclusion and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II with their great-grandmother in California.

When Justice Failed: The Fred Korematsu Story (book)

Books
Grades 3-5
Grades 3-5
Children's, Biography
Convention and rebellion, Heroism – real and perceived, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications, Power of the past
Available

Biography for children of activist and exclusion challenger Fred Korematsu by journalist Steven A. Chin.

Yamashita (film)

Films and Video
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
Animation, History
Coming of age, Communication – verbal and nonverbal, Facing darkness, Family – blessing or curse
Widely available

Short animated film by Hayley Foster that tells the incarceration story from the perspective of a girl of about eight: her removal from home with her parents and grandfather, the hardships they face at Manzanar (meals in communal mess halls, the barbed wire fences, and saying the pledge of allegiance in a barrack classroom), and her embrace of Japanese culture that her mother discourages, but that her beloved grandfather supports. The hand drawn animation is mostly in black-and-white, with strategic bursts of color.

Barbed Wire Baseball (book)

Books
Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
Children's
Empowerment, Individual versus society, Will to survive
Widely available

Children's picture book by Marissa Moss with illustrations by Yuko Shimizu that focuses on the true story of Kenichi Zenimura , an Issei baseball pioneer who builds a baseball field in the Gila River concentration camp.

Ancestry is Not a Crime: The Internment of People of Japanese Descent During World War II (curricula)

Curricula
Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12
Displacement, Evils of racism, Injustice, Patriotism - positive side or complications, Rights - individual or societal, War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
Limited availability

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, the Hawai'i state legislature funded the development of Ancestry is Not a Crime , focused on the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans. The 192-page curriculum aims to engage elementary through high school students with this complex history, to wrestle with the meaning of democratic principles, and to think critically about civil liberties and the responsibilities of a democratic citizenry.

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