Browse > Reading Level > Grades 3-5

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Mendez v. Westminster: For All the Children (book)

Books
Grades 3-5
Grades 3-5
Children's, Historical Fiction
Change versus tradition, Injustice, Rights - individual or societal
Limited availability

Children's picture book that tells in simplified form the story of the landmark Mendez case that ultimately ended segregated schools in California. The story is told through the perspective of Sylvia Mendez who is eight years old in 1943. Having rented the farm of Munemitsu family, who had been forcibly removed to concentration camps, they were new to Westminster, California. When she and her brothers are prohibited from attending the same school as her cousins (who can pass as "white") and must attend the inferior school for those of Mexican, African or Asian ancestry, her family decides to sue. With the help of lawyer David C. Marcus—and support from various organizations including the Japanese American Citizens League —the suit proves successful, ending segregation in the state. A brief epilogue notes the long-term impact of the case and the fate of Sylvia and others involved in it.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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 .

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Internment of the Japanese (book)

Books
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Young Adult, History
Displacement, Evils of racism, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
Available

Overview book by Diane Yancey on the wartime forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans for middle school audiences that is part of Lucent Books "World History Series."

The Invisible Thread (book)

Books
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Memoir, Children's
Immigrant experience, Growing up – pain or pleasure, Expression through art, Facing darkness, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice
Widely available

Memoir for young adult readers by the acclaimed children's book author that covers her charmed childhood in Berkeley, California, and her wartime incarceration during World War II.

Japanese American Internment Camps (Children's Press) (book)

Books
Grades 3-5
Grades 3-5
Children's, History
Evils of racism, Hazards of passing judgment, Injustice, War – glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
Available

Short overview book for younger children on the wartime removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans that is part of Children's Press's "Cornerstones of Freedom," Second Series of books.

Japanese American Journey: The Story of a People (book)

Books
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
History, Children's
Empowerment, Fulfillment, Heartbreak of betrayal, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice, Progress – real or illusion
Available

Overview work for children on the Japanese American experience produced by the Japanese American Curriculum Project (JACP) in 1985. Consisting of a historical overview, eleven biographies of notable Japanese Americans, and three short stories, Japanese American Journey was adapted from a 1970 JACP publication titled Japanese Americans: The Untold Story .

Japanese-American Internment in American History (book)

Books
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Young Adult, History
Displacement, Evils of racism, Hazards of passing judgment, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
Available

Non-fiction overview of the incarceration experience written for middle school readers. One of the relatively few such books written for this age group, it is part of Enslow Publishers' "In American History" series.

The Japanese American Internment: An Interactive History Adventure (book)

Books
Grades 3-5
Grades 3-5
Children's, History
Displacement, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
Available

Children's book on the wartime incarceration by Rachael Hanel that allows the reader to choose one of three stories and to make a series of decisions in each story that determines its outcome.

The Japanese in America (book)

Books
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Grades 3-5
History
Empowerment, Evils of racism, Immigrant experience, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice
Available

Overview book for children on the history of Japanese Americans from the 1860s to the 1990s. First published in 1967 as one of the first books for children on Japanese Americans, it saw revised versions in 1974 and 1991.

The Japanese Internment Camps: A History Perspectives Book (book)

Books
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Children's, History
Displacement, Evils of racism, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
Available

Children's book on the wartime removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans that focuses on Manzanar and tells its story through three first-person accounts.

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