The Bracelet

Rating:
Summary: an importance lesson in memory
Review: In the first illustration we see two typically Californian homes with cars in their driveways. One has a "For Sale" sign on its front steps. Emi, a second grader, sits and waits. Her father has been sent to a prison camp in Montana, and soon the FBI will take her, her sister, and her mother to a detention center and then to a detention camp in Utah. Emi and her family are Japanese Americans in California. It is 1942, and the United States is at war with Japan. Emi and 120,000 other Japanese Americans (80,000 of them citizens) were sent to detention centers due to their ethnic heritage by the U.S. government; their rights were abrogated. There is a knock at the door. Is it the FBI? No, it's her friend and neighbor Laurie. She gives Emi a gift, a bracelet, with which to remember her by. They hug. Emi and her family, allowed just a couple of suitcases, are sent with other from San Francisco to a racetrack which has been converted to a detention center. They see guards with guns and bayonets, and as they pass a boarded up grocery store, we see a sign in the drawing, saying that the store owners are "loyal Americans." When Emi loses the bracelet after arriving at the detention center, she learns that a person can remember people and families in the absence of physical items and personal effects. An afterword explains the historical events and the redress made by the US Federal government under Presidents Ford and Carter. Yoshiko is also the author of The Invisible Thread, her account of a childhood in detention.

Rating:
Summary: an importance lesson in memory
Review: In the first illustration we see two typically Californian homes with cars in their driveways. One has a "For Sale" sign on its front steps. Emi, a second grader, sits and waits. Her father has been sent to a prison camp in Montana, and soon the FBI will take her, her sister, and her mother to a detention center and then to a detention camp in Utah. Emi and her family are Japanese Americans in California. It is 1942, and the United States is at war with Japan. Emi and 120,000 other Japanese Americans (80,000 of them citizens) were sent to detention centers due to their ethnic heritage by the U.S. government; their rights were abrogated. There is a knock at the door. Is it the FBI? No, it's her friend and neighbor Laurie. She gives Emi a gift, a bracelet, with which to remember her by. They hug. Emi and her family, allowed just a couple of suitcases, are sent with other from San Francisco to a racetrack which has been converted to a detention center. They see guards with guns and bayonets, and as they pass a boarded up grocery store, we see a sign in the drawing, saying that the store owners are "loyal Americans." When Emi loses the bracelet after arriving at the detention center, she learns that a person can remember people and families in the absence of physical items and personal effects. An afterword explains the historical events and the redress made by the US Federal government under Presidents Ford and Carter. Yoshiko is also the author of The Invisible Thread, her account of a childhood in detention.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Book for the Classroom
Review: This book is a must for any classroom library. The children in my classroom had fantastic and thoughtful things to say about this book, in third grade! This book deals with tough subjects and still has a beautiful moral.

Rating:
Summary: The Bracelet
Review: This book was mistakenly placed in my preschool classroom and read to the children by another teacher. If you are planning to buy this book be aware that some of the themes in the book may not be appropriate for children under 6-7 years old. This book deals with a child being taken away from home, friends and family then losing a prized possesion. The book also includes talk about war and soldiers with guns. My class had difficulty understanding why Emi was being taken away. This book is more suited to children much older.

Rating:
Summary: The Bracelet
Review: This book was mistakenly placed in my preschool classroom and read to the children by another teacher. If you are planning to buy this book be aware that some of the themes in the book may not be appropriate for children under 6-7 years old. This book deals with a child being taken away from home, friends and family then losing a prized possesion. The book also includes talk about war and soldiers with guns. My class had difficulty understanding why Emi was being taken away. This book is more suited to children much older.