“Mama, is it time to go?” asks 7-year-old Emi, as she wipes away the tears and prepares to leave her home in this haunting story by Yoshiko Uchida. Emi and her family are Japanese-Americans in California in 1942, when the United States and Japan were at war and the U.S. government sent every Japanese person on the West Coast to internment camps. Because of their ethnic background, 120,000 Japanese-Americans (80,000 of them were U.S. citizens) were stripped of their rights and sent to detention centers.
This dark episode in America’s history is given greater poignancy as expressed through the eyes of a child. Emi’s father had been arrested and sent to a camp in Montana, and Emi, her sister, and mother were taken from their home in Berkeley and herded into stables at a race track with other Japanese-American families.
Emi realizes she’s lost a treasured bracelet, given to her by her best friend, Laurie. Desolate at first, Emi soon finds her friendship was more meaningful than the keepsake bracelet. Uchida’s message is that friends stay with you forever in your heart and memory. Her narrative is simple, yet beautiful, and Joanna Yardley’s soft, realistic watercolors enhance this sensitive story with historical accuracy.
Uchida also offers a brief afterword, in which she explains the historical events of this difficult period and the redress made under presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. (She also wrote an account of her childhood, spent in an internment camp, in The Invisible Thread.) She does so with gentle dignity, untinged by rancor.
The lesson of The Bracelet is that true friendships transcend material possessions. It is a wonderful book for adults to share and discuss with youngsters, and it would make an excellent addition to any classroom library.
“What Kids are Reading” is a regular feature in the Sun, highlighting children’s books available for young readers in Santa Maria. This week’s recommendation was made by writer, educator, and grandmother, Ariel Waterman.
This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 7, 2011.
