The author asks a chilling question: can another uprooting happen? The short answer: yes.
“On a deeper level, the Second World War was about racism.”
Historian Marrin (FDR and the American Crisis, 2015, etc.) writes with brutal honesty and conviction about a shameful period in American history. He constructs a detailed, well-researched narrative of horrific worldwide events leading up to the “day of infamy.” After Pearl Harbor is attacked, and wartime hysteria and fear spread, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares war on Japan and signs into law Executive Order 9066. The order set into motion the “uprooting,” or forced removal, of West Coast–based Nisei (second-generation Japanese-American citizens) and Issei (first-generation Japanese immigrants) from their homes to so-called relocation centers throughout the U.S. Woven into the narrative, personal stories and poems from the uprooted shine a sobering light on their unbearable conditions, despair, and shame. It’s refreshing to see how the author calls out the War Relocation Authority’s euphemisms, such as “assembly center” or “evacuation,” instead telling it like it is: concentration camp and eviction. Chapters about the heroic military contributions of Nisei (while their families stayed imprisoned in camps) illustrate what it means to serve and take the high road under extremely unjust circumstances. Historical photos throughout are valuable resources that show wartime atrocities and government-censored depictions of camp life and that honor Japanese-American heroes.
The author asks a chilling question: can another uprooting happen? The short answer: yes. (source notes, suggested resources) (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-553-50936-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
Clearly written, with heart and integrity, but lacking in substance: tasty but not very filling.
Melian, a chef, activist, and former Test Kitchen Manager at Bon Appétit, begins this brief memoir by recounting clearing out the freezer and finding and eating one last helping of her mother’s signature fish dish following her death.
Sharing this precious meal with her brother connected them emotionally and physically with their mother one last time. In other vignettes, she ties her love of food to her happy childhood in Argentina; memories of cooking with her cousins at her abuela’s house and, in particular, her abuela’s ravioles de seso; the revelation of a sidewalk vendor’s hot pretzel that she ate following her arrival in New York City to explore a new path after studying journalism in Buenos Aires; and the physical and mental strength she developed after going into business to sell her empanadas. Melian briefly alludes to her work bringing free food education to inner-city public schools, but the stories she shares here are overall more personal and primal—food as sustenance, not as a vehicle for social justice—which feels like a missed opportunity. She also references in passing the difficulties of being a woman in a male-dominated industry where being Latina and speaking English with an accent affected how she was treated. Each of the individual anecdotes stands alone, without a narrative arc connecting them, but the descriptions of food are rich in sensory detail.
Clearly written, with heart and integrity, but lacking in substance: tasty but not very filling. (Memoir. 12-18)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-22349-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2021
Though awkward, this adaptation still makes for a hopeful and inspiring story.
This story, an adaptation for young people of the adult memoir The Other Wes Moore (2008), explores the lives of two young African-American men who share the same name and grew up impoverished on the same inner-city streets but wound up taking completely different paths.
Author Moore grew up with a devoted mother and extended family. After receiving poor grades and falling in with a bad crowd, his family pooled their limited finances to send him to Valley Forge Military Academy, where he found positive role models and became a Corps commander and star athlete. After earning an undergraduate degree, Wes attended Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. When the author read about the conviction of another Wes Moore for armed robbery and killing a police officer, he wanted to find out how two youths growing up at the same time in the same place could take such divergent paths. The author learns that the other Wes never had the extensive family support, the influential mentors or the lucky breaks he enjoyed. Unfortunately, the other Wes Moore is not introduced until over two-thirds of the way through the narrative. The story of the other Wes is heavily truncated and rushed, as is the author's conclusion, in which he argues earnestly and convincingly that young people can overcome the obstacles in their lives when they make the right choices and accept the support of caring adults.
Though awkward, this adaptation still makes for a hopeful and inspiring story. (Memoir. 12 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-385-74167-5
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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