Paper Wishes - Lois Sepahban
Ten-year-old Manami did not realize how peaceful her family's life on Bainbridge Island was until the day it all changed. It's 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Manami and her family are Japanese American, which means that the government says they must leave their home by the sea and join other Japanese Americans at a prison camp in the desert. Manami is sad to go, but even worse is that they are going to have to give her and her grandfather's dog, Yujiin, to a neighbor to take care of. Manami decides to sneak Yujiin under her coat and gets as far as the mainland before she is caught and forced to abandon Yujiin. She and her grandfather are devastated, but Manami clings to the hope that somehow Yujiin will find his way to the camp and make her family whole again. It isn't until she finds a way to let go of her guilt that Manami can reclaim the piece of herself that she left behind and accept all that has happened to her family.
~ Excerpt from chapter.Indigo.ca
~ Excerpt from chapter.Indigo.ca
Themes: Loss, Hope, Prejudice, Family, Resilience
Recomended Grades - 3 to 7
I read this book very recently, off the suggestion of Classroom Bookshelf. So many great, inspiring ideas of this blog post. Check out this wonderful list of suggestions of how to use this novel from the Classroom Bookshelf.
Check out this interview with the author:
I've pulled these Literature Circle groupings from the suggestions from the Classroom Bookshelf post, plus added a few more of my own suggestions:
Literature Circles - Love (and sometimes loss) of a Family Pet
Because of Winn- Dixie - Kate DiCamillo
Handful of Stars - Cynthia Lord
Love that Dog - Sharon Creech
Dash - Kirby Lawson
World War II
The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak
The War that Saved my Life - Kimberly Brrbaker Bradley
Echo: A Novel - Pam Munoz Ryan
Number the Stars - Lois Lowry
Code Name Verity - Elizabeth Wein
The Devil's Arithmetic - Jane Yolen
Boy in the Striped Pajamas - John Boyne
Between Shades of Grey - Ruta Sepetys
WWII - Japanese focus
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Crains - Eleanor Coerr
Hiroshima
Under the Blood-Red Sun - Graham Salisbury
Dash - Kirby Larson
Caged Eagles - Eric Walter (Canadian Internment)
Naomi's Road - Joy Kogawa (Canadian, it's the children's adaptation of the author's novel Obasan)
Some of my favourite powerful sections. In reality, I was just tempted to write out about 90% of the novel!
Page 4:
“Why have the soldiers come?” I ask.
“War,” grandfather says. “It means soldiers everywhere.”
“When I see the soldiers, I am scared,” I say.
“When the soldiers see you, they are scared, too,” Grandfather says.
“Me?” I ask. I do not think I look scary.
“You. Me. All of us. They think: Maybe these people with Japanese faces and Japanese names will betray us,” Grandfather says.
“But only my face and my name are Japanese,” I say. “The rest of me is American.”
“That is so,” Grandfather says.
Page 18
Others are on the truck.
Neighbors.
Friends.
People with Japanese faces and Japanese names.
Just like me.
Two soldiers sit in the back of the truck, too.
Page 28
We step off the train and board the waiting buses. The buses will drive us to our destination.
As we get closer, I see bits and pieces through my window.
Fence.
Barbed wire.
Guard tower.
Buildings covered with black paper.
Red dirt.
I read the sign: Manzanar.
It is ugly.
Page 28
“It is a prison,” she says.
“The soldiers say it will be a village,” Father says. “We will make it a village.”
Page 37:
Where are we going?
Now I know: A prison in the desert. Or maybe a village in the desert.
For How long?
Now I know. Long enough to grow a garden. Or maybe even long enough to see winter.
Why?
I still do not have the answer to that question. But I can be patient.
Recomended Grades - 3 to 7
I read this book very recently, off the suggestion of Classroom Bookshelf. So many great, inspiring ideas of this blog post. Check out this wonderful list of suggestions of how to use this novel from the Classroom Bookshelf.
Check out this interview with the author:
I've pulled these Literature Circle groupings from the suggestions from the Classroom Bookshelf post, plus added a few more of my own suggestions:
Literature Circles - Love (and sometimes loss) of a Family Pet
Because of Winn- Dixie - Kate DiCamillo
Handful of Stars - Cynthia Lord
Love that Dog - Sharon Creech
Dash - Kirby Lawson
World War II
The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak
The War that Saved my Life - Kimberly Brrbaker Bradley
Echo: A Novel - Pam Munoz Ryan
Number the Stars - Lois Lowry
Code Name Verity - Elizabeth Wein
The Devil's Arithmetic - Jane Yolen
Boy in the Striped Pajamas - John Boyne
Between Shades of Grey - Ruta Sepetys
WWII - Japanese focus
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Crains - Eleanor Coerr
Hiroshima
Under the Blood-Red Sun - Graham Salisbury
Dash - Kirby Larson
Caged Eagles - Eric Walter (Canadian Internment)
Naomi's Road - Joy Kogawa (Canadian, it's the children's adaptation of the author's novel Obasan)
Some of my favourite powerful sections. In reality, I was just tempted to write out about 90% of the novel!
Page 4:
“Why have the soldiers come?” I ask.
“War,” grandfather says. “It means soldiers everywhere.”
“When I see the soldiers, I am scared,” I say.
“When the soldiers see you, they are scared, too,” Grandfather says.
“Me?” I ask. I do not think I look scary.
“You. Me. All of us. They think: Maybe these people with Japanese faces and Japanese names will betray us,” Grandfather says.
“But only my face and my name are Japanese,” I say. “The rest of me is American.”
“That is so,” Grandfather says.
Page 18
Others are on the truck.
Neighbors.
Friends.
People with Japanese faces and Japanese names.
Just like me.
Two soldiers sit in the back of the truck, too.
Page 28
We step off the train and board the waiting buses. The buses will drive us to our destination.
As we get closer, I see bits and pieces through my window.
Fence.
Barbed wire.
Guard tower.
Buildings covered with black paper.
Red dirt.
I read the sign: Manzanar.
It is ugly.
Page 28
“It is a prison,” she says.
“The soldiers say it will be a village,” Father says. “We will make it a village.”
Page 37:
Where are we going?
Now I know: A prison in the desert. Or maybe a village in the desert.
For How long?
Now I know. Long enough to grow a garden. Or maybe even long enough to see winter.
Why?
I still do not have the answer to that question. But I can be patient.