I Am an American: A True Story of Japanese Internment

by Jerry Stanley

Book Overview

Illustrated with black-and-white photographs. Young Shi Nomura was among the 120,000 American citizens who lost everything when he was sent by the U.S. government to Manzanar, an interment camp in the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0517597861
• ISBN13: 9780517597866
• Release Date: August 1994
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Length: 102 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.4" x 9.6"
• Age Range: 9 to 14 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 9

Customer Reviews

A cautionary tale for children as well as adults

A balanced and gently stated explanation of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Intended for young children (age 8 and up) but appropriate for an older audience. 90 pages, illustrated with photographs, published 1994. Particularly illuminating and helpful, this brief text discusses the various feelings of the people who were interned during the war, as well as the context of their community involvement before, during, and after the conflict, by tracing the specific story of Shi Nomura. Japanese Americans who were living in the mainland US were required to leave their real and personal property, their communities and their friends, their businesses and their professions, their schools and their places of worship, to be detained in the internment camps. Their property was confiscated, their citizenship revoked. Many thousands of American citizens were discharged from the US military and labeled "enemy combatants," despite their US citizenship and worthy service records. Yet not even one Japanese American person was ever found guilty of disloyalty to the US or of war crimes of any sort. To the contrary, many youth volunteered from within the camps to serve their nation through the 100th battalion and the segregated 442nd infantry division. The 442nd division lived up to its motto, "Go for broke!" by becoming the most highly decorated unit ever in US history. Translation services provided by military intelligence in the 100th battalion -- highly educated Americans usually of Japanese ethnicity -- enabled the US to understand and act upon intercepted foreign messages. Sharing these stories -- the stories of fellow Americans' struggle to prove their loyalty to their own country -- is a way to honor them, their sacrifices, and their contributions. Going forward with this understanding, perhaps we will be better able to avoid treating other Americans of any ethnicity with such unwarranted discriminatory action. Highly recommended.

How Could It Happen?

This book tells us how it could happen. Japanese-Americans were the subject of constant pressure and segregation in Hawaii and California as well as the rest of the United States. Apparently the Japanese were excellent farmers and the whites were no competition for their success so laws were passed, no male immigrants, no female immigrants, no citizenship, citizenship doesn't really matter, etc. The story is pretty stunning and it really covers how the idea of internment could happen. Hate a group of people, refuse them the right to assimilate and then send them off without rights when there is an excuse to do so. I think it could happen again. It would be better if it didn't though.

THEY DESERVE BETTER

I read this boook because I had a history project all about Japanese Internment. Before I read this book I thought Japanese Interment was only about the Japanese in some camps. I didn't realize the injustice that we set upon these noble and great people. After reading this book I felt enraged at how the Japanese would have to sell or burn their beautiful and valuble items. I think they deserve so much more than a letter from the President. We should have a much better tribute toward them. I have always been proud of living in such a great state such as California, but I am not proud that they were the least tolerant of the Japanese.

Dear Fellow Adolescents,

In this book called I Am An American that I read is a really good book because it is for the kids at the reading level of 9-12 (ages to). If you wanted to know the story. Well in the story their is a yough boy and his family that were intered with others. Also in this story is based one a true one, it is almost like a biography. As I was thinking about this story I realized that is was a very educational it makes you think about the world itself. When I was reading some other reviews I saw one and it caught my attention and I had to write about it. It was about a girl who had experienced what went on in the book. As I was reading on in this review it said that the girl and her family were interned too, just like the boy in the girl in the review. The girl's name that was interned with her family was Shi Nomura. I think being interned is like you having to pack up all of your things and then moving out of the place where you were and then never returning. I think that is just like being interned because you can never go back. And then I started to read another review and it mentioned that this whole thing happened during World War II, and that was one of the worst wars that went on in the world years ago. They said that Japan and many other countries were over world order. "Freedom has a Tousand charms to show". I used this because the people that were interned probably thought that they were going to be free because it makes it seem like they were going to be free but they weren't, going to be free at all. I think that it was a good book because it tells how badly people were treated, it had said that it was a good book. Some people may say that it was not a good book because it might make kids think that when they grow up they will be treated that way. It also might make it seem that this is still going on. It also might make teens think that the world around them is unfair to different people (races). Then it might make teens feel that some people in the world are disrespectful to different people (races), and should be respect to them no matter what race the people are. And it could make them think that people have no kind of respect for others and instead of being mean to them. It is a good book however kids can read it, get an educational idea of their life and the world that surrounds it. I Am An American can get a teen or a child to start reading at the reading level of 9-12. If you by this book then you will enjoy reading it because it will tell you what went on in the world back then instead of now. If you read this book now you will think that "Life isn't the same". Your Fellow Adolescent, Shanti Lipscomb