The Girl with the White Flag [Paperback]

Tomiko Higa (Author), Dorothy Britton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 14, 2003

New York Newsday called this memoir of a warhood childhood in Japan "one of the saddest and yet most uplifting books about childhood you will ever encounter."

Separated from her family in the confusion and horror of World War II, seven-year-old Tomiko Higa struggles to survive on the battlefield of Okinawa, Japan. There, as some of the fiercest fighting of the war rages around her, she must live alone, with nothing to fall back on but her own wits and daring. Fleeing from encroaching enemy forces, searching desperately for her lost sisters, taking scraps of food from the knapsacks of dead soldiers, risking death at every turn, Tomiko somehow finds the strength and courage to survive.

Many years later she decided to tell this story. Originally intended for juvenile readers, it is sure to move adults as well, because it is such a vivid portrait of the unintended civilian casualties of any war.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA-- Higa tells of her experiences as a seven year old wandering for seven weeks in battle-torn Okinawa in 1945. Her nine-year-old brother was killed beside her as they slept. Separated from her sisters, she survived on her own and then with an elderly, handicapped couple. Although bloody corpses are a common sight, the book is not depressing. Aspects of Oriental culture and religion, such as the importance of family and the relationship of man to nature, can be seen. Sentences are usually short, but they don't detract from the effectiveness of this moving, autobiographical memoir. Recent immigrants from countries ravaged by war will find it particularly meaningful. All will be touched by Higa's tenacity under impossible circumstances and will be reminded that children continue to be the worst victims of war. --Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Iwo Jima, Saipan, Okinawa. The names of Pacific War battlegrounds conjure up vaguely similar memories to Americans above a certain age. But there was a difference. On Okinawa for the first time U.S. forces encountered a large civilian population. Estimates are that at least 75,000 Okinawan men, women, and children perished, many of them committing suicide rather than surrender. This book tells the story of the climax of this battle from the perspective of a seven-year-old girl, the author, who struggled against the odds to survive and to lead others to survival. Some rare photographs illuminate the ending to this simply told story, as the girl in the title comes into camera range of an American soldier. A charming story, a quick read for young and old alike.
- John H. Boyle, California State Univ., Chico
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 130 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha USA (March 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4770029314
• ISBN-13: 978-4770029317
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #224,311 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #70 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Japanese

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh How Lovely, February 22, 2003

By 

Cally "Frippery Book Goddess" (Under a willow tree) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Girl with the White Flag (Paperback)

This is the only book that I have read cover to cover literally ten times. I have the book basically memorized. I first read it several year ago in my middle school years. Once I started reading I could not put it down! I will always have a copy of it in my house hold and it is in my top three books list.
This a story about a young girl about six years of age whom is amidst WWll in Japan. When her father leaves to go fight in the war the young lady along with her fellow sisters and brother to find safety. Along the way she some how get seperated from her family and is left alone for months dodging bullets, bombs and surviving by finding abandoned gardens and eating out of dead soldiers knapsacks. Her adventure takes her from running from a crazy soldier to a hole in the ground where she finds an old couple who take care of her until the young girl is forced to march around a warfront in the brightnees of day in front of American soldiers marching with a white flag in her hand.

No written report could possibly do this book it's justice. You have to read and live the tale yourself.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Children's Book, April 26, 2005

By 

Anna "Johnnie girl" (Annapolis, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Girl with the White Flag (Paperback)

I moved to Okinawa in 1991 when my parents were both stationed at Kadena Air Force Base. I was eight years old at the time and not long after arriving, I happened to check this book out of the school library. To assume that children cannot understand or appriciate the meaning of war and the hardships that it entails is insulting to their intellegence. I loved this book, and I treasure the signed copy I got in 1993 when Higa-san held a signing at Camp Lester. Like "Sadako and The Thousand Paper Cranes" this book, narrated by a child, makes the popularly forgotten Pacific Campaign of WWII assessable to children who will then become socially responsible adults. It does not do to shelter children from the injustice of the world.

The book is only mildly graphic, the narrative is heart breaking, and it deserves a place in school libraries right next to Sadako, "Number the Stars" and "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl"

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gripping Tale of Survival, May 11, 2000

By 

T. David Underwood (Okinawa, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Girl with the White Flag (Paperback)

How a young girl of 7 years can survive on her own on the battlefields of war-torn Okinawa, 1945, is absolutely astonishing. As a history teacher in Okinawa, Japan, I have run accross a wide array of materials concerning the Battle of Okinawa, but no other book so vividly details the human side of the struggle from the viewpoint of civilian Okinawans. This is a heart-warming story of triumph in the midst of great tragedy. I often encourage my students to place themselves in the "shoes" of those whom we are studying, to go beyond just facts and figures and identify with the real people who experienced history. Tomiko Higa takes the reader directly to the Battle of Okinawa through the eyes of a child.