Cynthia Leitich Smith’s Children’s and YA site has a great selection of Japanese American literature. She gives brief summaries of all of her recommended texts; she also provides the age level in which the different books were intended for. This book-list has a wide variety of books for many age groups and would be a great tool to start a discussion about the Japanese American narrative.
Click here to visit Cynthia Leitich Smith’s site
The A More Perfect Union site by the Smithsonian National Museum for American History focuses on Japanese Internment and racism during World War II. The site features comprehensive and interactive references illustrating the discrimination of Japanese Americans during this time. By learning about the tragedies and injustice that took place, it is a hope that such groundless persecution will never occur again.
Click here to visit the A More Perfect Union reading list and learn more about their cause
Caroline C. Hunt’s U.S. Children’s Books about the World War II Period: From Isolation to Internationalism 1940-1990 explores Children’s literature about War. Hunt explains the shockingly small amount of literature about war was available about war. She discusses tat though the war was most certainly a large part of a child’s life at the time there was questions about what was appropriate for young readers.
Laura Pringleton’s World War II As Seen Through Children’s Literature briefly describes the personal wartime experiences of the author. Then it provides a lengthy reading list of children’s literature pertaining to World War II and its influences. The piece also provides brief backgrounds for the novels presented.
Click here to visit World War II As Seen Through Children’s Literature
William Broz’s Inman’s War: Genre Jumping Brings to Life the Letters of an African American WWII Solider (Plus, a Bibliography of African American WWII Literature Suitable for YA Readers) explores a fairly unique topic concerning World War II. Broz focuses on the role and experiences of the African American during WWII. He references Inman’s War: A Solider’s Story of Life in a Colored Battalion in WWII by Jeffery S. Copeland. Broz seeks to familiarize readers with this unfamiliar facet of World War II history. He also provides a reading list for further reading on African American WWII soldiers.
Click here to visit Inman’s War
Danton McDiffett’s Prejudice and Pride: Japanese Americans in the Young Adult Novels of Yoshiko Uchida discusses the difference between the treatment of Japanese POWs in different locations. He relates how, ironically, POWs within Japan were treated far more leniently than the Japanese American citizens were. He details the experience of this group of people through the children’s literature of Yoshiko Uchida.
Yoko Kawashima Watkins’ So Far from the Bamboo Grove is a semi-autobiographical novel featuring an eleven-year-old Japanese girl living Korea, and the trials her family faces as they return to Japan.
Click here to visit So Far From the Bamboo Grove
Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi is a response to Watkin’s novel and features a Korean protagonist who navigates much of the same danger, but explores an entirely different racial context.