Browse > Interest Level > Grades 3-5
83 articles
A Diamond in the Desert (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Grades 3-5
- Children's, Historical Fiction
- Coming of age, Disillusionment and dreams, Forgiveness, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice
- Widely available
Novel for children centering on Tetsuo Kishi, a teenager at the Gila River , Arizona, concentration camp who finds solace in baseball.
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.
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.
Bat 6 (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8
- Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8
- Children's, Sports
- Character - destruction, building up, Forgiveness
- Widely available
Set in 1949, two small towns in Oregon are rivals in the girls' softball game of the year, Bat 6 (1998). On the Bear Creek Ridge team, Aki Mikami is the new girl is who has just returned after being "sent away to a camp" with her family since 1942. All the 6th grade girls were too young to remember Aki and her family leaving, and the adults would talk in whispers amongst themselves about what happened, but not to the children. Aki is shy but she is an amazing ball player (her mother was MVP for Bat 6 in 1930) and girls take to her immediately. The opposing Bat 6 team, Barlow, also recruits a talented new player named Shazam—a troubled girl who has come to live with her grandmother. She hates the Japanese because her father was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The ballgame culminates in …
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.
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.
Best Friends Forever: A World War II Scrapbook (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Children's, Historical Fiction
- Everlasting love, Family – blessing or curse, Injustice, Rights - individual or societal
- Widely available
Children's book about the friendship between a German American girl and her forcibly removed Japanese American friend in the form of a scrapbook from the year 1942.
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.
Bob Sakata: American Farmer (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5
- Grades 3-5
- Biography, Children's
- Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice, Injustice, Role of men, Coming of age
- Available
Biography for children by Daniel Blegen about a Nisei farmer in Colorado that covers his wartime incarceration in an American concentration camp.
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 .
Citizen 13559 (play)
- Plays
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Play for children by Naomi Iizuka, based on the children's book The Journal of Ben Uchida: Citizen 13559, Mirror Lake Internment Camp by Barry Denenberg. The story focuses on the wartime experiences of twelve-year-old Ben Uchida, whose family is incarcerated at the fictional "Mirror Lake" camp in Wisconsin. After workshop productions at the Kennedy Center and the Mark Taper Forum's Asian Theatre Workshop, the hour-long play premiered in March 2006 as part of the Kennedy Center Family Theater's first season.
Classroom Guide for the National Japanese Memorial to Patriotism (curricula)
- Curricula
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Overcoming - fear, weakness, vice, Patriotism - positive side or complications, Power of the Past, War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
- Widely available
The National Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism in Washington, D.C. was dedicated in 2000. It was initially developed in 1988 by the "Go For Broke" National Veterans Association Foundation; ownership was transferred to the United States Government in 2002. The Memorial is currently managed by the National Park Service. The classroom guides (one for upper elementary/middle school and another for high school) are designed for teachers to provide an overview of the Memorial and to provide some basic information about the World War II experience of Japanese Americans, particularly around forced removal, incarceration, and military service.
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.
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 .
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.
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.
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. …
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.
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.
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.
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.
How Did This Happen Here?: Japanese Internment Camps (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5
- Grades 3-5
- Children's
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Hazards of passing judgment, Injustice
- Available
Short overview picture book on the wartime removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans aimed at an elementary school audience.
In America's Shadow (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Children's
- Patriotism – positive side or complications, Power of the past
- Available
Children's picture book by Kimberley Komatsu and Kaleigh Komatsu told from the perspective of a young girl recounting her family's wartime incarceration story.
Instructions to All Persons: Reflections on Executive Order 9066 (exhibition)
- Museum Exhibitions
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- History
- Evils of racism, Injustice, Power of the past, Rebirth, Wisdom of experience
- No availability
Exhibition mounted by the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9066 .