Customer Reviews

The Journal of Ben Uchida: Citizen 13559, Mirror Lake Internment Camp

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
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I really enjoyed this book. We all know about Hitler and what he did to Jewish people, but nobody really knows about how much the Japanese people suffered too during WWII. Although we call them "Internment Camps" they were actually no better than concentration camps so whats the use pretending. I am glad this author wrote a book about Japanese people, some american citizens, during WW II. This book is worth the money.

Twelve-year-old Ben, his family, and thousand of others are sent to internment camps during Word War II because they are Japanese Americans. Ben's family is sent to the Mirror Lake Internment Camp, a desolate, barren place. There, Ben records his thoughts in a journal. This was an interesting book in the My Name is America series

This book was written in very vivid detail as it talks about the injustice to the Japanese people during World War II. Ben finds it hard to be squeezed into a little hut with another family and having practicly no privacy. School is impossible as you can even hear the teachers because there are no soundproof walls and you can hear what the teachers are talking about in the next room. This is a great book about how a young boy has to deal with living in a camp.

I have spent my early years in the Minidoka Internment Camp in Idaho. This book was very accurate in its description of daily life and conditions. The Epilogue provided a fine closure to the characters depicted in the book, and the historical notes and photographs enhanced the story of Ben. This event has too long been a skeleton in the closet of American history, and to a democratic society such as ours, respect and honor comes from the truth of telling. Congratulations to the author for a piece of historical fiction told with compassion and honesty.

Have you ever been treated like dirt, because you were different, because of your nationality? If so, then you can relate to a young Japanese-American child, from the book, The Journal of Ben Uchida, by Barry Denenberg.
Ben Uchida didn't see himself different from anyone else. He was treated just as an American would be. Until the fateful day, when a bomb was dropped and Ben was considered the enemy.
This adventurous book about the pain and struggle of Japanese-Americans trying to survive the concentration camps, in California, is trying to send the message of being prejudice.
During the time span of the concentration camps, the organization put together a baseball team for the kids. Ben's team makes it all the way to the championship game, but one of his best friends blows the game, because he was getting paid. After that moment, Ben feels as though he can not trust anyone anymore.
If you decide to read this book, you will encounter the adventures of Ben and the rest of the Japanese-Americans during the time period of World War Two.
This book is one of my favorite historical-fictions. I think everyone should read this book just to get the perspective of what the Japanese had to go through. So sit down, take a couple of hours, and read the Journal of Ben Uchida.

The Journal of Ben Uchida,a historical fiction novel by Barry Denenberg, is a very descriptive book about prejiduce against Japanese-Americans. The book takes place in an internment camp in the 1940's. There are four main charecters: Ben,Robbie,Ben's best friend,Naomi,Ben's sister, and Momma.
Ben Uchida is a 12 year-old Japanese-American. After the attacks on Pearl Harbor,Hawaii the American goverment thought that all people with Japanese or Japanese-American acestry were going to spy for the Japanese goverment. So Ben and his family were sent to an internment camp in Mirror Lake,and he explains how terrible it was. Anyone who reads this book will think it is very interesting because it explains what happened in a very descriptive way.The reader will like it because it is filled with many facts and details describing what life was like.Anyone who is willing to read a somewhat sad story will very much enjoy this book.

I usually enjoy the books in the Deal America/My Name is America series, and this one had great promise to be one of the better books. Set in a time of great hardship, Japanese Interenment Camps, and with a well drawn character, this book couldn't have gone that wrong, usually. However, as humanity often prooves there is always an exception to the rule. While the main character, Ben is facinating, the background characters, such as his family, his friends, are very poorly thought out and while mentioned, we never get a real sense for them. The book reads as the classic pitfall of historical fiction, namely that the author will be too busy mentioning what's happening around the character to build up the real parts you would mention in a diary. Namely, your family and friends. *sighs* As a result, the book ends ubruptly and in an odd place with no real satisfaction in the ending. As an example of a better Dear America book, I recommend "A light in the storm."

In Barry Denenberg's book from the "My name is America" series titled "The Journal of Ben Uchida" he offers good humor, history and appeal but comes up a weak, abrupt ending. Set in 1942 in the format of a journal, Ben Uchida is just like any other 12-year-old boy, except he is of Japenese Heritage. At the start of the war, Ben and his family are sent to an internment camp because of suspicion. Denenberg's book is good until the last page, when it offers a very weak ending. That put aside, I would call this a must-buy because of because it gives a shameful look on World War 2 and how America dealt over 125,000 Japanese Americans severe injustice

Im 22 now, but I remember reading this book series when I was in 5th grade. I only read a few, but this one was by far my favorite. I've moved on to slightly more mature material, but reading this book is definitely a key factor in what influenced me and turning me into a history buff. It's almost a great trick tactic that teachers can use to fool the kids into reading. Let's face it, at 10 years old life was about playing outside with your friends, riding your bicycle, etc... These books start out as an assignment and in the end you start loving the story, becoming connected to these characters as if you are reallly reading an actual diary. The research that goes into these books is astounding when you look at the direction the writer is coming from. The writer is not reporting on history, but essentially becoming the character, talking about feelings and moods and attitudes of what life was like at different important time periods. I'm sure every single one of these books is great, and it's a shame I'm not that young anymore. Knowing what I know now, I definitely would have read more of these books when I was at that level. For all the parents out there browsing and trying to get your kids into reading or history, I can't think of a better book to start with. I've read plenty of books in my life, and it's been about 12 years or so since I read this one, and through all that time I still remember how much I loved this book. I'm a big WW2 aficionado now, and this book is where it all started. Before this I had no clue about internment camps or what people in my own country faced in a time of conflict and war. It's amazing how much the world has changed since then.

Anyway, to wrap this up, great book , and great series of books. In my case this is where it all started for me. I'm currently reading Battle Cry For Freedom by James McPherson which is a Pulitzer winner about the Civil War. So yes, I have come a long way since reading Ben's diary, but this book seriously formed a solid foundation in my brain that taught me not only how enjoyable reading can be, but it got me in History which is still something I love and am always doing some kind of reading or research about. I will also have a Masters in the field in less than a year. Like I said, it all starts somewhere, and for me it was this great piece of literature.

Other books from the series that I read and were great include....the Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins a WW2 soldier, The Journal of Joshua Loper a black cowboy, and The Diary of Sean Sullivan a Transcontinental railroad worker. I truly hope this review helped, and maybe this book or the series can have a strong influence on someone else in the future. I'm sure I'm not the only person for which this book served as a stepping stone for.

"The Christmas that never was!" {Says my sister}. All because of Pearl Harbor, this happened. The story starts in April in 1942 and retraces back to December right about the time of the Pearl Harbor disaster. It gives you a full recount of the disaster.

Journal of Ben Uchida: Citizen 13559 Mirror Lake Internment Camp. {By: Barry Denenberg} is a great book for historical fiction fans. It's also a great book to tell you what life was like in the Internment Camps during the period of time after Pearl Harbor happened. The author has a superb way of giving details about people, places, and things. Barry has a way of making you feel your actually there.

The theme of this book is: what life was like for a Japanese child in California after Pearl Harbor happened. Another is that if you were in an internment camp, then you didn't know where you were or where you would go, you were just told to get on a train with the belongings you could carry. You also had to share an apartment with another family and the apartment wasn't that big. You had to stand in line for everything like take a shower and get your food. Is the kind of life you want to live? I don't think so.

So if you like World War 2 books this is a good book for you. It has mystery, friendship, and adventure. All the things a book in diary form and even any book should require. It also has some cliffhangers after some diary entries and you are always wondering what is going to happen next. To me it is a very good book.