Shell Song: Based on a True Family Story by Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson and also illustrated by Fujimoto-Johnson is currently available, but I read via an online reader copy. The start of the story is set right before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Afterwards, the narrator’s grandfather is sent to an internment camp with other men. In age appropriate language (at least five and up) the experiences of the grandfather and family back home unfold. As set in Hawaii, seashells will play a role in keeping the grandfather’s spirits high, and that will later connect the past to the present.
While the presentation is relatively simple, there is a lot packed into a handful of pages. These pages are representing the text by giving colorful, but emotional imagery, to set the scene with its illustrations. And while things are not hidden, we do not get “down deep and dirty” with what was happening. American history comes to life as we follow a man, through the eyes of a grandchild decades later, as we find the concept of “two countries of their heart” at war, and what one of those countries did to her citizens. 
And with current events, this book is more relevant than ever. As someone with family who is Japanese American, I have always been interested in the subject, and like how this book presents a slightly different take at what occurred. Other books on the subject that I liked are Love in the Library by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and My Lost Freedom: A Japanese American World War II Story by George Takei (to name a few). I also will have a review on Tokyo Rose – Zero Hour by Andre R. Frattino which shows being an American in Japan (probably considered in the new adult, leaning towards adult, genre). And of course we cannot forget our Takei’s They Called Us Enemy (new adult, leaning towards adult).