The emotionally attuned, richly told tale of one family’s unjust incarceration.
With co-author Gutiérrez, the late Tonai tells the story of his family’s imprisonment by the U.S. government during World War II.
The life that young Min’s parents built in California after emigrating from Japan is upended after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. FBI agents take his father away, suspecting him of being a spy; before leaving, Papa hands Min a small stone—“for strength.” Min’s mother takes over running the family grocery, but soon, she, Min, and his siblings are incarcerated, too, first at Santa Anita Park in California, then in Granada Relocation Center in the barren Colorado desert. Throughout their ordeal, Min keeps his stone close, hoping fervently for his father’s return. Years later, Papa rejoins his family in Granada, bearing a suitcase full of stones collected at various prisons he’s been sent to, and Min and his father create a beautiful rock garden amid cacti and barbed wire. The narration provides just enough background to enlighten readers about this dark episode of U.S. history while never overwhelming them, foregrounding Min’s deeply relatable uncertainties: “Will my family…be safe?” “Why are people so afraid of us?” Sasaki’s earth-toned illustrations evoke strong emotion. Deep shadows and dramatic angles portend Min’s father’s arrest. When the family is finally reunited, the images rejoice in the determined beauty of cactus flowers blossoming despite their bleak surroundings—a moving metaphor for the Tonais’ own story.
The emotionally attuned, richly told tale of one family’s unjust incarceration. (author’s note from Gutiérrez, illustrator’s note, historical context, discussion questions, timeline, further reading, bibliography) (Picture-book memoir. 5-10)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781419772894
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: today
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
A reasonably solid grounding in constitutional rights, their flexibility, lacunae, and hard-won corrections, despite a few...
Shamir offers an investigation of the foundations of freedoms in the United States via its founding documents, as well as movements and individuals who had great impacts on shaping and reshaping those institutions.
The opening pages of this picture book get off to a wobbly start with comments such as “You know that feeling you get…when you see a wide open field that you can run through without worrying about traffic or cars? That’s freedom.” But as the book progresses, Shamir slowly steadies the craft toward that wide-open field of freedom. She notes the many obvious-to-us-now exclusivities that the founding political documents embodied—that the entitled, white, male authors did not extend freedom to enslaved African-Americans, Native Americans, and women—and encourages readers to learn to exercise vigilance and foresight. The gradual inclusion of these left-behind people paints a modestly rosy picture of their circumstances today, and the text seems to give up on explaining how Native Americans continue to be left behind. Still, a vital part of what makes freedom daunting is its constant motion, and that is ably expressed. Numerous boxed tidbits give substance to the bigger political picture. Who were the abolitionists and the suffragists, what were the Montgomery bus boycott and the “Uprising of 20,000”? Faulkner’s artwork conveys settings and emotions quite well, and his drawing of Ruby Bridges is about as darling as it gets. A helpful timeline and bibliography appear as endnotes.
A reasonably solid grounding in constitutional rights, their flexibility, lacunae, and hard-won corrections, despite a few misfires. (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-54728-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
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