Journey to Topaz

By

Yoshiko Uchida

Journey to Topaz, Uchida, Yoshiko 149p. Creative Arts Book Company.

1985. Tr $8.95. ISBN 0-916870-85-5.

Gr 5 Up--

This piece of historical fiction presents a thought-provoking story of a typical Americanized, Japanese family living in California in 1942, as Pearl Harbor was bombed. It is a story told primarily about the Sakane family, and the injustices endured by them and thousands of other Japanese Americans during this very tragic time in the history of the United States of America. The characters come alive for us as we see several generations of Japanese Americans portrayed, all giving their views on the events that took place during their evacuation and internment. Some, like Mr.Toda, a friend of the Sakane family, feel torn apart. They're not fully proud of their cultural heritage at this time, and yet confused about what their country is doing to them. Others, like Mr. and Mrs. Sakane, try to endure their suffering with dignity, hoping for the best and a swift end to this event. They are also confused, but want to do what is right as an American. Through a third person narrative style, we live through the events as Yuki Sakane, an 11 year old, experiences them.

Throughout the book, we see Yuki evolve from a young girl who is bitter about being taken from her secure home and surroundings, to a person who discovers the simple joy of having her whole family together at Christmas The reader will come to see, as Yuki did, that even in the harshest of circumstances, we are truly blessed if we have our family together, alive and well. She has great role models in her gentle, humble parents, and an older brother whom she loves, but cannot fully understand. Everything comes together in the end, as they get to leave the bleak internment camp Topaz and "come back into the world," as Yuki puts it.

Although the reader is exposed to terrible injustices, there are also sympathetic and supportive characters like the Nelsons and Mrs. Jamieson, Caucasian friends whose actions helped soften the racist remarks and actions of others. Nonetheless, this is a story that must be heard and remembered so that such prejudicial and unjust actions will never be repeated. It is a perfect book to be read and discussed during a unit on racial prejudice or an historical unit on World War II.

By Noelia M. Klein