Customer Reviews

Journey to Topaz

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was interesting to me since my mother was about Yuki's age when she went to "camp". My mother doesn't talk much about that time, maybe because some things you just want to forget. It helped me understand some of the fear and prejudice towards Japanese Americans during the war. I have mixed feelings about the internment. It was horrible how so many people lost their livelihoods, but on the other hand, in camp, they were sheltered from the hatred and hostility they may have experienced at home. This was wartime, so everyone was feeling some kind of unhappiness. I give this book 4 stars and 5 stars to Uchida's "Journey Home", the story which follows Yuki's family out of camp.

Yuki is a Japanese-American girl, who lives a normal life in Berkeley, California. Suddenly, a war transforms her life into a long trip of misery and pain. Her father is torn away from the family, and her friends are seperated. In her school, kids sneer at her and call Yuki a "Jap". The bombing of Pearl Harbor causes Yuki to move from one place to another... cramped concentration camps and horsestall homes. Friendships bud and families reunite, giving Yuki hope of having a home with her family once again.

I homeschool my 12 y.o. son, and we read this book for a historical fiction book group. It is a beautifully written story of the tragic internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. It brings to life both the physical realities and the emotional burdens that were imposed by tearing people from their homes and sending them to dismal war camps. I highly recommend this book as an accompaniment to non-fiction reading about the internments, because it provides such a vivid picture of this sad chapter in American history.

I chose Journey to Topaz as my book to do a presentation on in my Reading in the Middle Grades class because it is well written and on a level that can be understood by most students. This account, as told by Yuki, is a sad reminder of days past when people were judged by their heritage and not their newfound loyality. This book is an eye opener for those who lived during this era and those who can only read about this era. My compliments to Ms. Uchida on a job well done. I look forward to reading her other books.

I am in 5th grade. I have read this book once and it is great for all readers especially for people who love stories about war problems. This is about world war two when a Japanese family had to go away for a while and the mom, brother and sister have to live in a camp. It is a great piece of work. I recommend it to anybody and any age.

Hi I am an 8th grader in Rhode Island. I had to read this book for school. I really enjoyed this book. It is based on a Japanese family being sent to a concentration camp during WW2. I think that this book is a good eye opener for those of us who had no idea what happened. It is a well written account and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Journey to Topaz was a great book. I think that this book was a very gripping and touching story. It taught me a lot of lessons, i.e. don't always complain that I don't have everything that I want because there are people in the world that aren't as fortunate as me. I've also learned that people should be treated equally, even if we don't have the same skin colour or the same hight, we are still the same on the inside. Now I know how hard it is to let someone, that you love, go. I can imagine how Yuki felt when her dad left her and when she had to let of Pepper. I also like the way the author added in Japanese words to make the book more interesting. This book showed that not only the Jews were effected in World War II, but the Japanese were just as scared and threatened as the Jews. I would recommend this book to everyone that thinks that Japanese people are spiolt and get whatever they want. I would also recommend this book to people that think their parents aren't getting them everything they want. All I want to say is that this was an excellent book and it taught many teachings.

Journey to Topaz is a great book. I love the advanced words in it and the way that the author throws in Japanese words into it. My reading teacher said that the school didn't have enough books to supply all of us with books, so I had to get a photocopied book. But it was such a great book, I'm going to beg my parents into buying it on Amazon.com! I think my teacher should have gone onto Amazon.com and bought us books so we could have the pleasure of having a real copy! I think Journey to Topaz is the best book I have ever read, because it teaches you that not only the Jews were affected by World War 2, but the Japaneese were affected as well, just as much as the Jews. It was also a breaking to the constitutional laws. Yoshiko Uchida(the author of the book) says it was uncalled for. I think that this book is great-five stars is definitly underestimating it!

Yuki Sakane is a Japanese-American girl, who lives a normal life in Berkeley, California. In her school, kids make fun of her for being Japanese. They also call her "Jap" which is insulting for Japanese.

It is sad that Yuki Uchida was looking forward to a nice Christmas with her family. The bombing of Pearl Harbor had her dad Taken away. They were asked to leave too. But it was not at the same time her father left. They were forced to sell everything.

I think that the author of the Book Yoshiko Uchida is trying to tell me to be prepared to experience bad things that you just can't control and that life is no always fair.

I like this part of the book. It is the ending when Yuki is saying goodbye:

"Goodbye Emi. Goodbye Mrs. Kurihara. Goodbye Mr. Toda. Goodbye... goodbye."
Yuki waved and waved as the bus lurched down the dusty road. She kept waving even when she knew her friend could no longer see her and they became small black dots in the sand. She watched the black barracks and the hospital and the watcher towers grow smaller and smaller, until they soon were only a splotch in the desert"

I would recommend this book to people who are interested in sad books that involve war. This book does not include a lot of war but it shows what happened to the Japanese after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It has a good beginning and end. I would definitely recommend the book to everyone.

Journey to Topaz was an interesting book. It was sad and very touching. The main character was a sweet girl who was determined to help make things right for her loved ones. She and her family faced painful separations from their friends and even each other. It is a great book that shows you what Japanese familys had to go through during World War II.