Desert Diary: Japanese American Kids Behind Barbed Wire

by Michael O Tunnell

A moving primary source sheds light on the experience of Japanese American children imprisoned in a World War II internment camp.

A classroom diary created by Japanese American children paints a vivid picture of daily life in a so-called "internment camp." Mae Yanagi was eight years old when she started school at Topaz Camp in Utah. She and her third-grade classmates began keeping an illustrated diary, full of details about schoolwork, sports, pets, holidays, and health--as experienced from behind barbed wire. Diary pages, archival photographs, and narrative nonfiction text convey the harsh changes experienced by the children, as well as their remarkable resilience.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Historical, Middle Grade, American History, World War II, Juvenile

144 pages, Hardcover

Published August 18, 2020

Reviews

[Stephanie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I became fascinated with reading about the Japanese internment camps in fifth grade, when I read “Journey to Topaz” by Yoshiko Uchida. “Desert Diary” is one of the best non-fiction books I’ve found on this subject. The authors were very thorough in their research; the photographs and pictures of the actual diary entries written by the third-graders were outstanding!
One thing that really impressed me was the details of daily life in the camps, and the photos that were shown with them. The authors were certainly not trying to gloss over the fact that these American citizens were imprisoned against their will, on the orders of our government. They showed that these were people just like everyone else, who wanted their lives to be the best they could be in spite of their incarceration. The fact that teachers like Miss Yamauchi were determined to give the children education and devised many creative ways to accomplish those goals is truly inspiring.
It was a privilege for me to get a chance to visit the Topaz museum and the one at Heart Mountain in Wyoming a few years ago. Seeing those sites with my own eyes was a very moving experience...

Memorable Quotes:
(Pg.2)-“Japanese are not bona fide citizens. They are not the stuff of which American citizens can be made.”- San Francisco mayor James Duval Phelan

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book for children, but I would recommend it to any age because the information inside it is so interesting and focuses on an integral part of US history. The backstory behind this book and the people whose lives it discusses is the most unique and interesting part. Even if you are well informed regarding the treatment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, this book offers a special profile of one class of young children at the Topaz camp in Utah; a profile created through their words in a "daily diary" they wrote in class during their detainment. Very interesting stories told here.

[Aneesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very lucky to notice this book on display at the library. It contains illustrated diary pages of a third grade class imprisoned at Topaz. It has a lot of additional text (informative but I had already learned much of it from other sources) and was organized thematically instead of chronologically. I wish I could read the complete diary cover to cover, but I guess I have to go to Utah to do that.

[Randa Pickle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a good look at this horrible thing that happened to people because of their heritage. We need to remember and be better people to everyone. An excellence history of the children. Thanks for writing this.

[Dadol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I learned a lot that some children didn’t know what was going on and teachers from the camps tried to make the classes fun. Oh I also want to see the diary in real life somewhere in the west

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent narrative non-fiction that follows a 3rd grade class diary at the Topaz Japanese Internment camp near Delta, Utah. A horrible period of American history where we imprisoned people simply because of how they looked and their cultural/national heritage. Behind barbed wire, watched by armed soldiers with machine guns from guard towers, families struggled for some kind of recognizable life with churches, schools, baseball games, weddings and funerals—all in the arid, cold, sandy desert.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an accessible account for kids about the Japanese American internment, based on a daily classroom diary that elementary school kids in a camp made in the deserts of Utah. I feel like there should have been a little more background/history of WWII in general, the author assumed that kids would know some major details about the war and time period which I am not sure they do.

[Virginia McGee Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Tunnell discovered a diary in the Utah State Historical Society in Salt Lake City, kept by a third grade class in the Topaz Camp in Utah. This group of Japanese American children wrote and drew pictures of the happenings during that year in school in the internment camp during World War II. He has added well-researched narrative that brings their story together without intruding on their story in the book Desert Diary. The diary begins on March 8th and extends through August 12th with school extended through the summer because of the disruption the children have experienced. Both pictures and narrative of the children in the 72-page account give a first-person account of life in an internment camp.

These children have been moved from the luxuriant California area into the desert. Their pictured surroundings scorpions and little vegetation beyond greasewood bushes. Teacher Miss Yamauchi brings a sense of normality to eight-year-old Mae Yanagi and her classmates. Classroom pets included prairie dogs, horned toads, and ants! Even under these circumstances, the children participate in the junior Red Cross, promote war bond purchases, and grow Victory Gardens. The diary records a baseball game but doesn’t name the winner. The community joined to observe both Christian and Buddhist holidays and celebrations.

The children recorded happenings in the community – births, deaths, and marriages. The most significant one was Miss Yamauchi’s own! The children took a vote after the wedding about whether to continue to call her by the name they knew or to call her “Mrs. Hori.” They voted to continue to call her by her maiden name. The class’s reasonably normal schoolyear is a tribute to a creative teacher and to their own resilience.

The diary ends with the end of school, but the author adds some information in an epilogue about the return to “normal” and the aftereffects of the internment on its citizens when the camp years were ended. Interesting back matter includes a glossary, an editor’s note on terminology, photo credits, and information about the sources he used and the people he met as he put their stories together. The book is listed for fourth to seventh grade, but I think anyone with an interest in the history of World War II would find it fascinating.

[Vonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This true story is author, Michael Tunnell’s 2nd book about the people at Topaz Relocation Center. This book follows the experiences of the 3rd grade Japanese students in Miss Yamauchi’s class detained at Topaz near Delta, Utah. These kids and their families, most of whom were American citizens, were rounded up and sent as prisoners to Topaz shortly after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The impetus for the round up was fear that these Japanese Americans would somehow betray America in war.

The journal and drawings the class made detail their normal, everyday activities while experiencing an out of the ordinary, difficult situation. Most of their families lost their homes, businesses and belongings when relocated and were placed in poor living conditions. In spite of this abhorrent treatment, they were able to rise above and make the best of their situation. They talked about their pets, their festivals and holidays, their pranks, who was sick, the dry, windy weather, their friends and their parents.

I recommend this book for middle to upper elementary or even Junior High. Topics will be relevant and relatable to these age groups because a lot of the information shared is from kids’ perspectives.

I appreciate that reparations information was shared at the end. Several Presidents worked to recognize the wrongs done to the Japanese Americans during World War 2. I believe these topics are timely and would open a door for important discussions with kids. Many photos are included of the real journals, kids’ drawings and various life experiences they encountered.

I Received a digital ARC copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Willow · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's always gratifying to me when suppressed history is laid bare so that we can see it and learn from it. I love the journey this author took in order to piece together this story, and the people met along the way. Especially satisfying is the editor's note on terminology at the back of the book.

How sad that Americans were treated in this way. I suppose the government did what they felt they had to do in those uncertain times, but that doesn't make it right, even if it is somewhat understandable, in retrospect. What confuses and angers me every time, though, is that those of Japanese descent were the only ones singled out. What about Germans? Italians? How can you differentiate among Americans and call some less American than others, just based on appearance?

Here is another case of Americans fighting for their country but remaining segregated and underappreciated solely due to their ethnic background. This happened to the Navajo Codetalkers and black-American divisions as well. The Japanese-American soldiers returned highly decorated and were still insulted, rejected, and treated as subhuman by their neighbors, shopkeepers, and towns.

This is a little bit of the story of those loyal and patriotic American families and how they coped as innocent prisoners in their own country.

[Jeannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is a very well done, accessible book about Topaz Internment Camp. Desert Diary is a quick, but fascinating look at a sad part of war history. I've taken a simple one credit college class on Topaz and have visited the site and museum, yet I still found the book very compelling. As another reviewer has mentioned, I stopped at a 4 because it seems a little more background into WWII and its effect would have been helpful, not as an excuse for ethnic prejudice, but as an explanation and warning.

As a bit of a side note, my father grew up and lived in Delta at the time of Topaz. Delta had been hard hit by the depression and life in that desert town was a struggle. For whatever reason, whether my lack of attention or no one talking about it, for all my summers visiting Delta I don't remember ever hearing about Topaz. Much, much later in life I asked my dad about it and he said that sometimes people from the camp would come to the store where he worked before he joined the Marines and everyone got along fine and there were no problems. That was all I remember him ever saying; whether it seemed normal, whether it awkward to talk about, or whether as a young boy he just had other things to think about I never quite knew.

[O Prism · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating look at a daily school children’s diary of life in a Japanese internment camp in Utah. This is a quick read as the diary is short. Despite extreme limitations, these families made the most of their situation and survived and thrived under extenuating circumstances. They lost everything, - their land, businesses, former lives for the sake of political power, and still they blossomed in the dry and unforgiving desert. There were spaces for future photographs not included in this book; I’m sorry I wasn’t able to view but a few of them in the preview. Spot on take of a shameful chapter in American history. It’s a blessing this diary exists, as much of the history of these camps have either been downplayed or faded away. Book described as “Children’s Nonfiction” but appropriate for all ages. Highly recommend if you study American History. Will present much better once published with all photographs included.
Thank you to Netgalley and Charlesbridge publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Anne S · Rating 5 out of 5]

The pictures in this book are awesome! Here it is 2020 and while these things happened in the 40s when Japanese Americans were unfairly persecuted because of who they were, this book is very telling in this current age.

Think about what is happening today in the camps near the Mexican border to those people who came to America for a better life and what it is like for them.

Two quotes that hit the point home--1)"the government called the forced removal "relocation or evacuation" which implies that they are being moved for their own safety which was not the case!"
2) Instead of saying that they were "relocated" we show they were removed from their homes by force.
"According to some historians, the most accurate term is "concentration camp"(a place where people are imprisoned without fair trial, based solely on their ethnicity or political beliefs)". the authors chose not to use this term because of its close association with the death camps of Nazi Germany.

we need to be aware of the present that is happening now based on the past of how we reacted.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woah, I have not seen a more detailed and human portrayal of the internment camps than this nonfiction about the Topaz camp primarily due to the inclusion of the diaries of the kids in a teacher's class and specifically Mae who illustrated her diary pages. Seeing her child handwriting and crayon drawings in the pages as the narrative explains what life was like clearly deepens the dichotomy of a harsh existence as prisoners of war that the United States tried hard to ignore was a human rights violation versus the every day banality of life from going to school and baseball to gardening and raising hens.

This book is moving in the combination of photographs, diary entries, and the full picture of life in camp from the relocation to the return and then (for this book) the reuniting of the class of kids who for many made it into their eighties at the writing of this book.

It's a powerful one.

[April Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book takes entries from a classroom diary, that of Miss Yamauchi's 3rd grade class of 1942-1943 at the Topaz Camp in Utah, and creates a history book that becomes more relatable for children; it shows what Japanese children went through at the prison camps in the United States during World War II. I think it's good that children are being made aware of the terrible treatment of Japanese Americans at that time- when I was in grade school in the 1970's, I don't remember being taught this part of history in school, but it's important. Kids need to learn about the bad parts of our history in addition to the good, so that hopefully we don't repeat it in the future. This book is well researched, well illustrated, touching, and poignant, and includes a lot of end material to fill in more of the story, as well as give updates on some of the students who contributed to this book. A worthy addition to any library, public, school, classroom, or home.

#DesertDiary #NetGalley

[Gabby · Rating 5 out of 5]

My dad was incarcerated in an American prison camp during WWII because he was Japanese-American. He was born in the USA.

I received this book for Christmas from my sisters, Keiko and Amy. The story is told from the perspectives of two young Japanese girls and a third grade class who kept a diary. One of the girls is Amy and Keiko's aunt, Mae, pictured on the cover. Their mom (Miye Yanagi was my dad's first wife) is on page 5 of the book in a family photo.

While my dad was 28yo and had yet to meet Mae, this is partly his story too. He was sent to a camp in Poston, AZ.

I love it's simplicity and all the photos. It's all the more poignant because it is "told" from the lens of 3rd graders attending school in a prison camp -- in their own country. May we never repeat such disregard for other citizens of the United States.

[Sarah Hanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book incorporating engaging visuals, primary source documents, and accounts of the lives of Japanese Americans interned at the Topaz incarceration camp during WWII. Prominent historical figures are mentioned throughout, such as Yoshiko Uchida, a prevalent writer of her first-hand accounts of internment. As a middle school ELA teacher, I seek resources that will help my visual learners and expand perspective of the issues we discuss. The incorporation of the childrens' perspectives, images, and anecdotes will make content more reachable for students to connect to and develop their sense of empathy. Thank you, Netgalley, for the ARC opportunity to examine and review this meaningful informational text.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book about life in a Japanese internment camp from a child's perspective. It was obvious that the author went to great lengths to present this accurate account. My college friend's father was interned in one of these camps during WWII. This started my process of looking into it. Between my friend and my desire to obtain knowledge of historical events, I have researched this topic quite a bit. This book is an excellent resource for anyone that is not aware, or is interested in more awareness of this time. I could even see using this in middle or high school classes as a resource.

I was given this book by NetGalley and Charlesbridge in exchange for my honest review.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I was in college the first time I heard about the internment of Japanese-American citizens during WWII! I was shocked! And now that I live in Utah, I was even more stunned to learn that one of the internment camps was right here in Topaz. I'm so grateful for this beautiful book based on a daily diary kept by a 3rd-grade class in the internment camp here in Utah. It is filled with pages and illustrations from their diary as well as photographs and lots of information about what life was like before, during, and after this horrific event. The book is written for children (elementary age) so it is very age-appropriate but doesn't gloss over the events.

[Marcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gem of a book. This narrative nonfiction work used the diary of the third grade class at Topaz prison camp. Through primary sources including the diary and photos we see the despicable conditions the Japanese Americans were detained in. Yet through it all, they maintained their dignity, and the children found joy in each day.
The diary, written and illustrated by the children, is particularly touching. They delighted in the animals, played baseball, flew kites in the brutal desert wind, and celebrated holidays. All while being held prisoner by the U.S. government.

[Mary Louise Sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author based his narrative on a 1942-1943 large diary illustrated by 3rd graders in the Topaz prison camp in Utah.

The diary gives details about everyday life for the children and the author has included many photographs. This book is for all ages and I think it would be a great activity for many classrooms to track their thoughts about their school year. The illustrations are quite good for 3rd graders.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great pictures and interesting facts make up a wonderful non-fiction book about the Japanese internment camps. Not too much new here as Michael Tunnell seems to have borrowed heavily from the stories told by Uchida and more but this book makes it's niche in following a particular class and it's amazing photos

[Sandy Brehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is tremendously informative, with archival photos, reproduced diary pages from third graders, and deeply researched details about daily life and significant events. A must have for middle grades and anyone learning about WWII and internment camps. Combine with some of the outstanding picture books with narrative stories from various points of view.

[Binxie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kids are amazing, aren't they? And Tunnell presents Miss Yamuchi's 3rd grade class daily diary makes this historical event accessible to young readers. This tribute to the Japanese children living in the Topaz relocation center during WWII, is heartwarming, disturbing, sweet, funny, and touching. The pictures add so much and the actual diary pages bring these children's story to life.

[Dolores · Rating 5 out of 5]

The incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII is one of America's greatest shames. This wonderful book tells about life inside the Topaz camp and shares pages from the class diary of Miss Yamauchi's third grade class of 1942-1943. They are simply wonderful. Matter-of-fact entries from a life inside barbed wire, that seem so normal, but still so incredible.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Born and raised in Utah and had no idea there was a Japanese interment (prison), Topaz, in Utah until about 10-15 years ago. Since then I’ve been interested in learning more about Topaz and what went on there. This book details what went on in the prison camp through the eyes of the children through a daily diary in school.

[Tracie · Rating 4 out of 5]

After finding an illustrated diary made by school children held prisoner at Topaz Relocation Center in Utah during World War II, the author writes about the experiences of the children and families held there.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful story told thru the letters and journal of a third grade class in a camp. Thier simple honesty and focus on topics important to kids make it very personable. A good look at an often ignored dark part of American history that many refuse to acknowledge.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and approachable. For a large-scale non-fiction book, it was incredibly gripping. I meant to flip through to review the content and got hooked!

Highly recommended.

[Brenda Kahn]

Touching and enraging.