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240 articles
California Generation (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Fiction
- Coming of age, Identity crisis
- Limited availability
Popular 1970 novel by Jacqueline Briskin that follows a group of students from the class of 1960 at fictitious California High—one of them a Sansei born in Topaz —through the touchstone events of the turbulent decade. Though a first novel, California Generation was widely promoted and launched Briskin's career as a best-selling novelist.
The Children of Topaz: The Story of the Japanese-American Internment Camp (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5
- Grades 3-5
- Children's
- Companionship as salvation, Growing up – pain or pleasure, Loss of innocence
- Widely available
Children's book by Michael O. Tunnell and George W. Chilcoat based on a class diary kept by a 3rd grade teacher at Topaz .
China Dolls (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Historical Fiction
- Companionship as salvation, Empowerment, Female roles, Forgiveness, Heartbreak of betrayal, Will to survive
- Widely available
Historical novel by Lisa See centering on performers at Chinese themed nightclubs in San Francisco and New York in the 1930s and 1940s. One of the three main characters is a Japanese American woman passing as Chinese American.
Chikara!: A Sweeping Novel of Japan and America From 1907 to 1983 (book)
- Books
- Historical Fiction
- Change versus tradition, Coming of age, Death - inevitable or tragedy, Disillusionment and dreams, Displacement, Emptiness of attaining a false dream, Evils of racism, Facing reality, Family - blessing or curse, Forgiveness, Greed as downfall, Fate and free will, Heartbreak of betrayal, Heroism - real and perceived, Immigrant experience, Individual versus society, Inner versus outer strength, Lost honor, Lost love, Nationalism - complications, Patriotism - positive side or complications, Power of the past, Will to survive
- Available
This work of historical fiction traces the tumultuous rise and fall of the Hoshi family, whose scion, Sataro, takes his wife Itoko and eldest son Noboru to California in 1907 to seek his fortune and restore his family's honor. He leaves his second son Hiroshi behind with family, a decision that marks the inauspicious first step of the tragic transpacific drama that unfolds over the course of the novel.
Child Prisoner in American Concentration Camps (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Grades 7-8
- Memoir
- Evils of racism, Family – blessing or curse, Immigrant experience, Working class struggles
- Available
Memoir of a childhood spent in American concentration camps by a Nisei educator and activist from Seattle.
Children of the Atomic Bomb: An American Physician's Memoirs of Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and the Marshall Islands
- Books
- Memoir
- Available
A Japanese American pediatrician reflects on his lifelong involvement with studying the effects of radiation on children, while also recalling his and his family's experiences during World War II.
Color of the Sea (book)
- Books
- Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Young Adult, Historical Fiction
- Coming of age, War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
- Widely available
A coming-of-age novel by first time novelist John Hamamura centering on a Kibei raised in Japan, Hawai'i, and California and that climaxes with his wartime experiences that include arrest, the Military Intelligence Service , and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The book won an Alex Award from the Young Adult Library Services Association in 2007.
Caucasian Boy at a Japanese Camp (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 7-8
- Memoir
- Coming of age, Companionship as salvation, Displacement
- Available
The son of the superintendent of schools at Tule Lake concentration camp recounts his experiences as a young boy there.
Snakeskin Shamisen (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Adult
- Fiction, Mystery
- Lost honor, Power of the past
- Widely available
The third novel in Naomi Hirahara's "Mas Arai Mysteries" series finds the gardener/detective back in Southern California in 2002 where he tackles a murder case in the Okinawan American community.
So Far from the Sea (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5
- Grades 3-5
- Children's
- Change versus tradition, Death – inevitable or tragedy, Growing up – pain or pleasure, Injustice, Power of the past
- Widely available
Children's picture book by Eve Bunting about a Japanese American family's pilgrimage to Manzanar in 1972.
Silver Like Dust (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Memoir
- Evils of racism, Family – blessing or curse, Power of the past, Role of women
- Widely available
Memoir published in 2011 centering on the author's grandmother, who slowly tells the author the story of her life and incarceration at Heart Mountain , over the course of several visits with the author. Her grandmother's detailed narrative from the perspective of a young woman of twenty when the war breaks out—the happy childhood in Los Angeles, the shock of war and forced removal, meeting her husband at the Pomona Assembly Center , marrying in camp, and having her first child there, before resettling in Seabrook Farms , New Jersey—is contrasted with the author's vastly different life as a contemporary young woman of roughly the same age when she begins the project. Having grown up in Pennsylvania, apart from her grandmother in Florida, the visits also allow the two women to really get to know each other for the first time. The book includes various brief historical snippets that provide …
Sleeping on Potatoes: A Lumpy Adventure from Manzanar to the Corporate Tower (book)
- Books
- Memoir
- Coming of age, Desire to escape, Displacement, Facing reality, Overcoming - fear, weakness, vice, Social mobility
- Limited availability
Memoir of a Nisei, from his early childhood as the son of a violent father and a loving mother, his experience incarcerated at Manzanar , his career as a successful physicist at Honeywell, and his years after retiring.
Song of Anger: Tales of Tule Lake (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Memoir
- Darkness and light, Displacement, Injustice
- Available
Reflections and observations of a social worker in Tule Lake segregation center during World War II.
Southland (book)
- Books
- Widely available
Southland is a critically acclaimed 2003 novel by Nina Revoyr set primarily in the multiracial Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles. Part multi–generational family saga, part murder mystery, and part coming of age novel, the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans affects several characters directly and is a background part of the world of the novel's key figures, both African American and Japanese American.
Sideways: Memoir of a Misfit (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Memoir
- Coming of age, Convention and rebellion, Family – blessing or curse, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice
- Available
Memoir of a young Nisei woman who was born in the Minidoka , Idaho, concentration camp. The story focuses on her often strained relationships with her parents, grandparents, and eight siblings in 1950s Chicago.
Silent Honor (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Romance
- Coming of age, Companionship as salvation, Everlasting love, Evils of racism, Loss of innocence, Will to survive
- Widely available
Novel by bestselling author Danielle Steel about a Japanese American family in the San Francisco Bay Area and their wartime odyssey in American concentration camps, highlighting a romance between a niece recently arrived from Japan and a white college professor.
Stone, Bow, Prayer (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Poetry
- Available
Sansei poet Amy Uyematsu's fourth book of poetry, organized in twelve sections, each representing a month in the ancient Chinese lunar calendar that Japan adopted in the seventh century A.D.
Strawberry Yellow (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Adult
- Fiction, Mystery
- Injustice
- Widely available
The fifth book in Naomi Hirahara's Mas Arai Mysteries series finds the Kibei gardener back in his hometown of Watsonville for the funeral of a relative. But the apparent murder of an anti-GMO activist and the suggestion by his widow that the deceased relative may have been murdered plunge Mas into another mystery.
Seki-nin (Duty Bound) (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Historical Fiction
- Convention and rebellion, Displacement, Facing darkness, Family – blessing or curse, Power of tradition
- Available
Novel by George Nakagawa about a Nisei stranded in Japan during World War II.
Suitcase Sefton and the American Dream (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Historical Fiction
- Everlasting love, Family – blessing or curse, Importance of community, Injustice
- Widely available
Novel by Jay Feldman about a New York Yankees scout who discovers a hot Nisei pitching prospect in an American concentration camp during World War II.
Summer of the Big Bachi (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Adult
- Fiction, Mystery
- Facing darkness, Greed as downfall, Power of silence, Power of the past
- Widely available
Mystery novel by Naomi Hirahara that was the first to feature her Kibei hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor) gardener protagonist Mas Arai.
The Block Manager: A True Story of Love in the Midst of Japanese American Internment Camps (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Memoir
- Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice, Self-preservation, Displacement
- Available
Incarceration memoir of a Nisei woman from Stockton, California, who becomes a block manager at the Stockton and Rohwer detention camps and who meets and marries her husband at the latter. The narrative follow the couple to Tule Lake and postwar Japan.
The Bracelet (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5
- Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
- Children's
- Growing up – pain or pleasure, Importance of community, Self-awareness, Will to survive
- Widely available
A children's picture book by Nisei author Yoshiko Uchida , with illustrations by Joanne Yardley, originally published in 1993. The Bracelet is a story derived from the author's own childhood experiences in an American concentration camp during World War II. The book opens as seven-year-old Emi, her mother and sister prepare to leave their home in Berkeley, California, for Tanforan , a racetrack that has been converted into a temporary camp for Japanese Americans. Emi's best friend, Laurie Madison, brings her a gold bracelet as a farewell gift, and as a reminder of the value of their friendship. Emi vows that she will never take it off, but as she helps clean out the filthy horse stable that will serve has her family's "apartment," the gold chain slips off her wrist and is lost. At first, she is desolate, but Emi eventually realizes that she does not need the bracelet …
Camp Nine (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Historical Fiction
- Coming of age, Evils of racism, Power of wealth, Role of women
- Available
Coming of age novel set in and around "Camp Nine," a fictionalized Japanese American concentration camp based on Rohwer , narrated by a girl from a prominent white family in the adjacent town whose life is transformed by the camp.
Camp Notes (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Poetry
- Available
Mitsuye Yamada 's first collection of poetry, initially published in 1976, includes poems she wrote during World War II and soon thereafter. The first book of poetry by a Japanese American woman to focus explicitly on the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans and its aftermath, the collection includes illustrations by Yamada's daughters, Jeni and Hedi, and calligraphy done by her husband, Yoshikazu Yamada.