The Invisible Thread [Paperback]

Yoshiko Uchida (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1995

Growing up in California, Yoshi knew her family looked different from their neighbors. Still, she felt like an American. But everything changed when America went to war against Japan. Along with all the other Japanese-Americans on the West Coast, Yoshi's family were rounded up and imprisoned in a crowded. badly built camp in the desert because they"looked like the enemy." Yoshiko Uchida grew up to be an award-winning author. This memoir of her childhood gives a personal account of a shameful episode in American history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of such accomplished children's works as The Bracelet and The Jar of Dreams offers a firsthand account of life in a Japanese American internment camp during WWII. Ages 11-up.

Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"An eye opener." -- --School Library Journal

"Fascinating reading." -- --Booklist

Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Beech Tree Books; 1st Beech Tree ed edition (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688137032
• ISBN-13: 978-0688137038
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #99,787 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Asian American
  • #17 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Biographies > Literary
  • #33 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Japanese

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Walking an invisible thread, May 24, 2004

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Invisible Thread (Paperback)

The delicate balance that must be maintained in non-fiction children's books is this: While we cannot pretend to ignore or beautify the ugly events that have happened in the past, at the same time we must make these horrendous occurrences palatable to the young reader. In the case of Yoshiko Uchida, the notable Japanese-American children's author has made her career in writing about Japanese, Japanese-Americans, and their place in history. With "The Invisible Thread" the author has decided to write a work that is a little more personal. This autobiography marks a departure for Uchida, leaving behind the fictional past for the real one. In it, kids learn first-hand about a particularly shameful (and shamingly recent) chapter in America's history: the degrading Japanese internment camps.

A good author writing about a catastrophic event leads up to the moment cautiously. If you're showing a difficult moment in a person's (or persons') life, you don't just run headlong into the moment without giving a little background first. In this way, Uchida sets the stage for the reader. Yoshiko grew up as a second generation Japanese-American in California in the 1930s. Born of parents that had both immigrated to the United States separately, Yoshiko was privileged to live in a fairly well-to-do area in Berkley, California. Living with Japanese ancestry in the U.S. at that time was not an easy thing, but Yoshika was hardly about to challenge the system. As we watch the author grows up, goes to college, and makes numerous friends. Her life, such as it was, was fairly uneventful. Then, just about halfway through the book Pearl Harbor is bombed and everything changes. Yoshiko and her family are sent packing from their beloved home (and dog) to temporary quarters in an old racing track. The story picks up as she learns to teach and exist in her new environment, detailing the dehumanizing effect that such living has on human beings.

What I liked about this book was the real sense one got of the difference the America of that time and the American of today. Uchida puts it best herself in a passage found in the chapter, "Prisoner of My Country". In this passage she writes:

"Resistance or confrontation such as we know them today was unthinkable, for the world then was a totally different place. There had been no freedom marches or demonstrations of protest. No one had yet heard of Martin Luture King, Jr. No one knew about ethnic pride. Most Americans were not concerned about civil rights and would not have supported us had we tried to resist the uprooting".

Educators using this book today could easily point out that though we are not interning people of Middle Eastern descent today, we are certainly not making America a place that is much more hospitable today than it was for the Japanese at that time. The book is a useful tool for placing a moment in American history within its context. I was especially thrilled to find that there are additional resources and books listed in a neat bibliography for both kids and adults wanting to know more about Japanese internment camps. What is remarkable is that the book makes the event real to the reader, allowing us to feel a little of what the author, her family, and friends went through at the time. In the end, Uchida is an accomplished writer that knows exactly how to bring children into a dangerous past without horrifying them with too many of the details. It is a delicate line to walk and Uchida treads it with the utmost care.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, September 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Invisible Thread (Paperback)

I read this book and I only set the book down once. The farther I read into the book, the more I wondered why we were treating them like prisoners. I am only sixteen so I did not live through this, but I still think it was completely wrong. This was a great memoir which I think everyone can learn from.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, July 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Invisible Thread (Paperback)

This is a telling story of one girl in a concentration camp. The twist is that the camp was run by Americans, imprisoning Japanese-Americans "for their own safety" during World War II. Intriguing for all ages.