Browse > Interest Level > Grades 1-2
12 articles
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.
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. …
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.
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.
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.
Blue Jay in the Desert (book)
- Books
- Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
- Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
- Children's, Picture book
- Quest for discovery, Rights - individual or societal
- Widely available
Blue Jay in the Desert by Marlene Shigekawa and illustrated by Isao Kikuchi is a children's picture book about how the gift of a hand-carved wooden blue jay symbolizes the love and hope a grandfather gives to his grandson.
The Cat Who Chose to Dream (book)
- Books
- Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
- Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
- Children's
- Disillusionment and dreams, Facing darkness, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice, Will to survive
- Widely available
Children's picture book about a cat who accompanies his Japanese American family to an American concentration camp during World War II.
Children of the Relocation Camps (book)
- Books
- Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
- Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
- Children's, History
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Growing up – pain or pleasure, Injustice
- Available
Picture book for elementary school children that tells the story of the wartime removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans from a children's perspective. The book was named a Carter G. Woodson Elementary Level Honor Book in 2001.
A Place Where Sunflowers Grow (book)
- Books
- Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
- Grades 1-2
- Children's, Historical Fiction
- Darkness and light, Empowerment, Expression through art, Importance of community, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice
- Widely available
Children's picture book by Amy Lee-Tai and illustrated by Felicia Hoshino about Mari, a young Japanese American girl in Topaz , an American concentration camp during World War II. As the book begins, she plants sunflower seeds in the desert soil, hoping they will grow like the sunflowers in their old backyard. She recalls their prewar home, where she lived with her older brother and artist parents. At Topaz, she goes with her father to the art school he started. Initially unable to draw anything in the children's class, she slowly starts to find things to draw with the help of a supportive teacher, her father, and her new friend Aiko. After drawing a picture of her barrack with the sunflowers growing tall in front, she returns home to find little sunflower seedlings, giving her hope for the future. A final page provides biographies of the author and illustrator and …
A Lesson in American History: The Japanese American Experience, Curriculum and Resource Guide, 5th Edition (curricula)
- Curricula
- Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Fear of other, Injustice, Rights, War
Created by the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), this 150-page guide for teachers is a comprehensive resource focused on the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. It provides historical information, a timeline, an annotated listing of K-12 resource materials (books, audio and visual works, websites, museum exhibits, agencies and organizations), K-6 and 7-12 lesson plans, and an appendix of various primary source materials. The content also covers other historic events when the government restricted the rights of individual citizens in favor of national security, including the story of Arab and Muslim Americans in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.
Baseball Saved Us (book)
- Books
- Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
- Grades 3-5
- Children's, Sports, Picture book
- Character - destruction, building up, Fear of failure
- Widely available
Popular and acclaimed children's picture book written by Ken Mochizuki and illustrated by Dom Lee about the concentration camps and their aftermath through the prism of baseball.