The Bracelet - Softcover

Uchida, Yoshiko

Softcover

ISBN 10: 069811390X ISBN 13: 9780698113909

Publisher: Puffin Books, 1996

Synopsis

Yoshiko Uchida draws on her own childhood as a Japanese-American during World War II in an internment camp to tell the poignant story of a young girl's discovery of the power of memory.

Emi and her family are being sent to a place called an internment camp, where all Japanese-Americans must go. The year is 1942. The United States and Japan are at war. Seven-year-old Emi doesn't want to leave her friends, her school, her house; yet as her mother tells her, they have no choice, because they are Japanese-American. For her mother's sake, Emi doesn't say how unhappy she is. But on the first day of camp, when Emi discovers she has lost her heart bracelet, she can't help wanting to cry. "How will I ever remember my best friend?" she asks herself.  


* "Yardley's hushed, realistic paintings add to the poignancy of Uchida's narrative, and help to underscore the absurdity and injustice suffered by Japanese American families such as Emi's."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Will find a ready readership and prove indispensable for introducing this dark episode in American history"—School Library Journal 

About this title

About the Author:

Yoshiko Uchida has written more than twenty-five books for children, including A Jar of Dreams and The Best Bad Thing. Many of Ms. Uchida's writings are inspired by her Japanese-American heritage. During World War II, she and her family were forced to live in West Coast internment camps. It is in this experience that The Bracelet is based.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 2-5-It is 1942, and seven-year-old Emi is being sent from her home in Berkeley, California, to an internment camp with her mother and older sister. Her father was arrested earlier and incarcerated in a camp in Montana. Temporarily herded into stables at a race track with other Japanese-American families, Emi realizes that she has lost the bracelet that her best friend, Laurie Madison, gave her as a parting keepsake. At first desolate, she soon realizes that she does not need the token after all, as she will always carry Laurie in her heart and mind. Uchida employs a simple, descriptive style, allowing the child's feelings to give punch to this vignette without becoming sentimental. An afterword gives brief, dignified historical context to the story. Yardley's watercolor illustrations both match and amplify the text at every point, evincing the greatest sensitivity to the depiction of character and to historical accuracy. This deceptively simple picture book will find a ready readership and prove indispensable for introducing this dark episode in American history.
John Philbrook, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 069811390X
• ISBN 13: 9780698113909
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32