Japanese Americans – Cannonball Read 17

War and a family

Shell Song: Based on a True Family Story by Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson

April 25, 2025 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

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 […]

A little love

Love in the Library by Maggie Tokuda-Hall’

December 19, 2022 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Around seventh grade I first heard about the Japanese American internment camp stories because my aunt is Japanese American. But it was not until I was much older that it clicked. My aunt, her siblings, her mother, and my cousins, not to mention her aunts, uncles and cousins would have been incarcerated. And while I was able to find a little here and there, it was difficult until the last few years to find things that were well done or interesting enough to keep me […]

I am a rule breaker….And can be unlike Kiku and her family in this graphic novel

Displacement by Kiku Hughes

September 25, 2020 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

#cbr12bingo Book Club I am 100% cheating on this Bingo Block as I can’t find a Book Club book that I really want to read right now. However, this book should be 1000% in a book club. We need to remember a piece of our own history and how history is currently repeating itself. Displacement by Kiku Hughes was not a perfect read for me. As much as I loved this book, I needed a bit more. It is a beautiful story about family, history, […]

Gyo Fujikawa Drew her way into our hearts

It Began with a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way by Kyo Maclear

July 29, 2020 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

It Began with a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way by Kyo Maclear and illustrated by Julie Morstad is a different picture book. It is a picture book about someone who fought not only to be seen themselves, but for others to be seen too. In the 1920’s Gyo Fujikawa did what few women and even fewer Japanese people did: she went to college. She did what few people in the 1960’s did: she put pictures of all races of babies on the same page in […]

Our Shame and Dishonor

March 12, 2016 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

Sometimes things disappear and there’s no getting them back. This first novel from Julie Otsuka deals with the period of time that follows her second novel. The Buddha in the Attic told the story of the Japanese American experience from arrival in California at the turn of the century until the forced deportation of Japanese Americans to internment camps during WWII. When the Emperor Was Divine tells the story of one family, from the days just preceding their departure from California to a camp in […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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