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Displacement
A teenager is pulled back in time to witness her grandmother's experiences in World War II-era Japanese internment camps.
Kiku is on vacation in San Francisco when suddenly she finds herself displaced to the 1940s Japanese-American internment camp that her late grandmother, Ernestina, was forcibly relocated to during World War II.
These displacements keep occurring until Kiku finds herself "stuck" back in time. Living alongside her young grandmother and other Japanese-American citizens in internment camps, Kiku gets the education she never received in history class. She witnesses the lives of Japanese-Americans who were denied their civil liberties and suffered greatly, but managed to cultivate community and commit acts of resistance in order to survive.
Kiku is on vacation in San Francisco when suddenly she finds herself displaced to the 1940s Japanese-American internment camp that her late grandmother, Ernestina, was forcibly relocated to during World War II.
These displacements keep occurring until Kiku finds herself "stuck" back in time. Living alongside her young grandmother and other Japanese-American citizens in internment camps, Kiku gets the education she never received in history class. She witnesses the lives of Japanese-Americans who were denied their civil liberties and suffered greatly, but managed to cultivate community and commit acts of resistance in order to survive.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 18, 2020
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21406 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,810 reviews
July 13, 2022
Displacement is an absolutely stunning story of time travel in which a young biracial Japanese-American girl finds herself abruptly transporting back to the time her grandmother spent in US internment/incarceration camps. Kiku is a lovable narrator who's easy to sympathize with, and it's heart-breaking not only to watch her learn all of these tragic things she didn't know about her own grandmother, but also to watch her slowly come to terms with her own time in the internment camp, as she has no idea when or if she'll ever return to her own time. This is an incredibly sad, important story based on a painful truth that many in the US are far too content to forget these days, and I can't recommend this graphic novel highly enough.
✨ Representation: All prominent characters are Japanese or white/Japanese biracial; Kiku and a side character are both queer girls.
✨ Representation: All prominent characters are Japanese or white/Japanese biracial; Kiku and a side character are both queer girls.
March 13, 2020
This graphic novel is a great dose of education and enlightenment when it comes to the Japanese Incarceration camps in the 1940’s so if you’re looking to be more aware of this history, I recommend!
November 22, 2020
I fully expect this to win awards this year. Kiku Hughes gives her family's story of the Japanese incarceration during WWII a "Devil's Arithmetic" spin as she tries to piece together what it might have been like for her grandmother, and also makes a heartbreaking point about the long term, generations spanning effect it had on Japanese Americans.
September 21, 2024
4/5 ⭐️
- Had no idea that there were historical graphic novels and now I’m HOOKED!! Loved this one so much and learned so much too.
- Love that the author brought up in the authors note her family history. This story was powerful and made me want to ask my own grandparent about stories that I’m sure I’ve missed out on hearing.
- The artwork in this was beautiful and made me want to pick up more graphic novels. So so good!
- Had no idea that there were historical graphic novels and now I’m HOOKED!! Loved this one so much and learned so much too.
- Love that the author brought up in the authors note her family history. This story was powerful and made me want to ask my own grandparent about stories that I’m sure I’ve missed out on hearing.
- The artwork in this was beautiful and made me want to pick up more graphic novels. So so good!
October 1, 2020
With a nod to Octavia Butler, Kiku Hughes imagines her teenage self getting cast back into time, literally following the footsteps of her teen grandmother into an internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II.
This is an excellent companion to George Takei's They Called Us Enemy, showing how these events can reverberate through the generations that follow. Hughes also ties those past events to the modern politics of Donald Trump, demonstrating the importance of remembering, sharing, and educating everyone about this dark chapter of American history in order to keep it from repeating.
Its a thick book, but it reads quickly with an emphasis on emotional impact over pedantic history in order to draw you in and make you want to learn more after you finish.
This is an excellent companion to George Takei's They Called Us Enemy, showing how these events can reverberate through the generations that follow. Hughes also ties those past events to the modern politics of Donald Trump, demonstrating the importance of remembering, sharing, and educating everyone about this dark chapter of American history in order to keep it from repeating.
Its a thick book, but it reads quickly with an emphasis on emotional impact over pedantic history in order to draw you in and make you want to learn more after you finish.
August 23, 2020
QUE QUADRINHO PERFEITO!!!!!
Essa é a história de uma garota que volta no tempo, para a época da sua avó, e revisita e aprende mais sobre os campos de encarceramento de japoneses durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial nos Estados Unidos. Assim como em "Eles nos chamaram de inimigos", de George Takei, conhecemos mais sobre esse período tão pouco falado.
É um quadrinho autobiográfico, a avó da autora precisou passar por essa situação assim como outros 120 mil japoneses. Considero que é uma das histórias que todo mundo precisa conhecer, porque é sabendo do passado que evitamos que as coisas se repitam no presente.
O final desse livro fechou tudo com chave de ouro, fazendo uma crítica incrível ao governo Trump. Toda a construção da história até chegar no momento final... simplesmente UAU.
Sem palavras para quanto eu gostei de ler Displacement. (Bônus: a autora é queer!!)
Essa é a história de uma garota que volta no tempo, para a época da sua avó, e revisita e aprende mais sobre os campos de encarceramento de japoneses durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial nos Estados Unidos. Assim como em "Eles nos chamaram de inimigos", de George Takei, conhecemos mais sobre esse período tão pouco falado.
É um quadrinho autobiográfico, a avó da autora precisou passar por essa situação assim como outros 120 mil japoneses. Considero que é uma das histórias que todo mundo precisa conhecer, porque é sabendo do passado que evitamos que as coisas se repitam no presente.
O final desse livro fechou tudo com chave de ouro, fazendo uma crítica incrível ao governo Trump. Toda a construção da história até chegar no momento final... simplesmente UAU.
Sem palavras para quanto eu gostei de ler Displacement. (Bônus: a autora é queer!!)
October 10, 2020
As someone who lives in America, I'm embarrassed to say that this is one of those topics that I don't know all that much about. While I know that it happened, I don't know to what degree, or what actually happened. And while I blame the education system here as always, I blame myself, too. I've never made a conscious effort to really learn about this event, the way I have with other events (especially in this period of time), and it's imperative that this cycle be changed.
Kiku is taken back in time, living through her grandmother's memories of the American Internment camps. She isn't in touch with her Japanese culture, and hasn't learned much about this event in school either, considering that a lot of the information has only been declassified recently. When she's transported back to modern times, after living in the internment camp for a year, she's more aware of the prejudices so prevalent in today's society, recognizing that history is on the brink of being repeated.
I really liked the concept and execution of this book - it gives a lot of information without seeming overly info-dump-y. The art was just detailed enough to do its job. I also really liked the way that the whole 'taking-a-stand-in-the-face-of-modern-injustices' angle towards the end of the book.
Definitely a must-read for anyone who wants to learn, historical fiction that it is.
A big thank you to my local library for providing me with an ARC... even if it was a couple of months late :)
Kiku is taken back in time, living through her grandmother's memories of the American Internment camps. She isn't in touch with her Japanese culture, and hasn't learned much about this event in school either, considering that a lot of the information has only been declassified recently. When she's transported back to modern times, after living in the internment camp for a year, she's more aware of the prejudices so prevalent in today's society, recognizing that history is on the brink of being repeated.
I really liked the concept and execution of this book - it gives a lot of information without seeming overly info-dump-y. The art was just detailed enough to do its job. I also really liked the way that the whole 'taking-a-stand-in-the-face-of-modern-injustices' angle towards the end of the book.
Definitely a must-read for anyone who wants to learn, historical fiction that it is.
A big thank you to my local library for providing me with an ARC... even if it was a couple of months late :)
September 30, 2020
While visiting San Francisco with her mother, Kiku is "displaced" in time to witness her grandmother Ernestina's experiences in WWII. In current days, Kiku experiences the effects of Trump-era America.
Part fiction part autobiography, through gorgeous illustration and smooth color pallete, this graphic novel centers around Japanese and Japanese Americans who were incarcerated by US Government in incarceration camps during WWII. Little is known about the incarceration camps in history due to shame and guilt.
Kiku is a biracial girl who struggles to connect with her Japanese heritage, not being familiar with Japanese language and culture. The author explores the impact of intergenerational trauma, which memory and history have lasting effect for many generations. Kiku and her mom's conversation about model minority myth in the last section was so spot on and very informative. The history repeats itself - from detention centers at US-Mexico border to Muslim ban, anti-Latinx and anti-immigrant sentiments, we need to question our privilege and fight for justice. Beyond learning more about the Japanese incarceration and empathizing with all the suffering, this book urges us to take action.
I read DISPLACEMENT in one sitting and it was a memorable journey. If you have to read one graphic novel this year, let it be this one!
[ I received a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review ]
Part fiction part autobiography, through gorgeous illustration and smooth color pallete, this graphic novel centers around Japanese and Japanese Americans who were incarcerated by US Government in incarceration camps during WWII. Little is known about the incarceration camps in history due to shame and guilt.
Kiku is a biracial girl who struggles to connect with her Japanese heritage, not being familiar with Japanese language and culture. The author explores the impact of intergenerational trauma, which memory and history have lasting effect for many generations. Kiku and her mom's conversation about model minority myth in the last section was so spot on and very informative. The history repeats itself - from detention centers at US-Mexico border to Muslim ban, anti-Latinx and anti-immigrant sentiments, we need to question our privilege and fight for justice. Beyond learning more about the Japanese incarceration and empathizing with all the suffering, this book urges us to take action.
I read DISPLACEMENT in one sitting and it was a memorable journey. If you have to read one graphic novel this year, let it be this one!
[ I received a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review ]
November 9, 2020
This story is an interesting mix of fact and fiction. The author writes about an alternate reality in which she, at age 17, was transported back in time to the 1940s to catch glimpses of her grandmother as a teen. Her grandmother was one of roughly 120,000 Japanese-Americans forced into an internment camp during WWII. Teenage Kiku finds herself living next door to her grandmother's family in an un-insulated wooden barrack in the Topaz, Arizona camp. But she is unable to gather the courage to meet her grandma- and also, Kiku does not speak Japanese, one of many forms of cultural loss which effects her family generations after the camps. Instead Kiku befriends some of the other high schoolers in camp and gains a deeper understanding of the hardships they faced, such as food shortages and loyalty tests. The book is beautifully illustrated in a palette heavy in blues, rusts, and dusty browns. The story unfolds a bit slowly, but it brings an important and accessible new look at this time period. It would be a good companion to George Takai's They Called Us Enemy, and Hughes acknowledges her debt to Octavia Bulter's Kindred in the end notes.
July 27, 2020
4.5 stars
We don’t learn nearly enough about the atrocity of Japanese internment camps, and because of our collective ignorance, we’re letting it happen all over again to our Muslim and Latinx neighbors. It’s unacceptable and it is our job to fight it.
What better way to make history easy and accessible than to put it into a graphic novel? This is a great starting point, but don’t forgot to keep learning after this.
We don’t learn nearly enough about the atrocity of Japanese internment camps, and because of our collective ignorance, we’re letting it happen all over again to our Muslim and Latinx neighbors. It’s unacceptable and it is our job to fight it.
What better way to make history easy and accessible than to put it into a graphic novel? This is a great starting point, but don’t forgot to keep learning after this.
April 2, 2021
Such an important and powerful graphic novel about Japanese internment/incarceration camps - also tied to Trump’s racist and xenophobic policies. On top of the excellent writing and importance of the subject matter, I loved the clean lines and consistent color palette throughout the book. Despite the horrible topic, it is aesthetically pleasing and soothing to the eye.
November 19, 2020
Our connection to the past is not lost, even if we don't have all the documents, even if we never learn the details. The memories of community experiences stay with us and continue to affect our lives. The persecution of a marginalized group of people is never just one act of violence- it's a condemnation of generations to come who live with the ongoing consequences. We may suffer from these traumas, but we can also use them to help others and fight for justice in our own time. Memories are powerful things.
A modern teenager finds herself swept into the past during the Japanese internment in the United States in the 1940's. Displacement is a moving tale that touches upon not only American history but also partly about the author's family history. The special attention to conveying through the plot and artwork, the impact of trauma that is felt from generation to generation through memory was beautiful.
I couldn't wait for silent reading periods with my students so that I could read a little of this graphic novel. I can just feel the outpouring of love that went into creating this story. Not only did I feel emotional, but I also felt that Kiku Hughes tapped into what the aftermath was like for the survivors and their descendants. That's something that I haven't witnessed a history book ever doing.
Goodreads review published 19/11/20
A modern teenager finds herself swept into the past during the Japanese internment in the United States in the 1940's. Displacement is a moving tale that touches upon not only American history but also partly about the author's family history. The special attention to conveying through the plot and artwork, the impact of trauma that is felt from generation to generation through memory was beautiful.
I couldn't wait for silent reading periods with my students so that I could read a little of this graphic novel. I can just feel the outpouring of love that went into creating this story. Not only did I feel emotional, but I also felt that Kiku Hughes tapped into what the aftermath was like for the survivors and their descendants. That's something that I haven't witnessed a history book ever doing.
Goodreads review published 19/11/20
March 9, 2021
This graphic novel tells the story of a young woman who is a descendant of one of the Japanese-Americans that was sent to an internment camp during World War II. Mysteriously, she is displaced in time and experiences the internment camps first-hand. There's something really authentic about this story. My grandfather was a nisei Japanese (second-generation), and he never taught us Japanese (even though he could speak it), talked much about Japanese culture, or talked about his war experiences. The main character in this story has the same experience and it seems to be a common experience in the Japanese-American community. That reluctance to share language, culture, and experiences comes from the trauma that they experienced during the war. That aspect of the story really connected with me.
![Profile Image for laurel [the suspected bibliophile].](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fusers%2F1645808644i%2F7494844._UX200_CR0%2C6%2C200%2C200_.jpg&w=128&q=75)
July 28, 2021
Kiku finds herself displaced in time from 2016 America to 1943. Imprisoned with her grandmother in the Japanese internment, she has to struggled to survive by herself, alone, surrounded by guards with guns and other prisoners.
This was a fascinating and heartbreaking book showing the depths and scope of generational trauma through the years, and the ways the United States government and white Americans have stomped on Asian (particularly Japanese) Americans while simultaneously upholding them as a "model minority" in order to promote propagandistic bootstrap prosperity.
Huge Kindred vibes with the time-travel aspect, although this is YA.
The biggest message is that these wrongs are not in the past, but are happening now, still, even after the Trump administration (this was written as he took office and instituted the Muslim ban, and locked Mexican-Americans in cages and separated families), and that those of us with privilege need to use it to protest the wrongdoings of the present and maintain the memory of the past.
This was a fascinating and heartbreaking book showing the depths and scope of generational trauma through the years, and the ways the United States government and white Americans have stomped on Asian (particularly Japanese) Americans while simultaneously upholding them as a "model minority" in order to promote propagandistic bootstrap prosperity.
Huge Kindred vibes with the time-travel aspect, although this is YA.
The biggest message is that these wrongs are not in the past, but are happening now, still, even after the Trump administration (this was written as he took office and instituted the Muslim ban, and locked Mexican-Americans in cages and separated families), and that those of us with privilege need to use it to protest the wrongdoings of the present and maintain the memory of the past.
September 23, 2024
The past always touches the future :(
This was beautiful
This was beautiful
September 2, 2020
"Being from the Future meant very little when my education on the past was so limited"
Displacement is the first graphic novel I've ever read and I'm so glad I picked it up. I'm actually terrified to review this, NOT because its a graphic novel, but because the book is SO important I'm afraid I won't be able to emphasize that. I will put it out there that I'm not an expert when it comes with American History. However, I am well aware of the darker parts of it. One being what the Japanese Americans had to go through during World War II. Displacement not only acknowledged this, but also made you feel like you experienced it. Every page was really heart breaking, raw and just necessary.
Kiku feels disconnected from her Japanese heritage. Which I really felt as well being a Filipino and part Latina. I feel like I didn't know enough and also feel like I should because its a part of me. Kiku went through an important journey that made her realize about the things that happened in the past are actually still happening now, just in different way or form. This novel is really readable and yet the impact it brings leaves me breathless. The melancholic atmosphere of the sketches is just beautiful and made me ache.
As a reviewer, an educator, a blogger or just a person who cares, I highly recommend reading Displacement. Its relevant and highlights the importance of memories and how well it affects our future. It will leave you speechless.
Displacement is the first graphic novel I've ever read and I'm so glad I picked it up. I'm actually terrified to review this, NOT because its a graphic novel, but because the book is SO important I'm afraid I won't be able to emphasize that. I will put it out there that I'm not an expert when it comes with American History. However, I am well aware of the darker parts of it. One being what the Japanese Americans had to go through during World War II. Displacement not only acknowledged this, but also made you feel like you experienced it. Every page was really heart breaking, raw and just necessary.
Kiku feels disconnected from her Japanese heritage. Which I really felt as well being a Filipino and part Latina. I feel like I didn't know enough and also feel like I should because its a part of me. Kiku went through an important journey that made her realize about the things that happened in the past are actually still happening now, just in different way or form. This novel is really readable and yet the impact it brings leaves me breathless. The melancholic atmosphere of the sketches is just beautiful and made me ache.
As a reviewer, an educator, a blogger or just a person who cares, I highly recommend reading Displacement. Its relevant and highlights the importance of memories and how well it affects our future. It will leave you speechless.
July 7, 2020
I appreciate the author telling the story of her family's experience during the Japanese Internment. However, the time travel seemed clunky and unnecessary and was never fully explained. A fictional character from the same time period could have conveyed the story better, I think. Also, the present-day mother/daughter conversations, while insightful, seemed didactic and forced. Ultimately, I think a straight information retelling of family history would have worked much better.
May 23, 2021
The artwork is lovely and I cried a lot. Read via library (and then purchased a kindle copy as it’s currently on sale for $2.99).
September 30, 2024
✮ "A memory is too powerful a weapon." ✮
(Hughes, pg. 203)
--
Did you know that when 9/11/2001 occurred, the very FIRST group of people to step up and become allies, with the Muslim American community, were none other than the Japanese Americans? 🥺
There was NO other group that had the bravery to stand up by our side when our people were being hated on, when we were facing racism at its finest, when we were being "randomly" stopped at airports to get searched, when we were pulled from the side of the road by police only to get harassed, when the FBI would invade our homes and "interview" our own family members for "suspicion of terrorism," there was NO other group that stood by our side. But the Japanese Americans did.
Imagine feeling so alone. Feeling so POLARIZED towards everyone else in your world and in your community. But then another group steps up for you. And speaks for you. And rallies for you. And is so loud and determined and is just there to back you up no matter anything.
Because they went through the same exact thing that we did. That you did.
But because they know, and because they know, they don't want the same thing to happen again. To anyone.
And it is because of this unquestionable love, hope, friendship, and BRAVERY that the Japanese American community showed to the Muslim American community, that one of the most mutual and strong bonds, in the history of American community alliances, was formed. 😌
To this day, us Muslim Americans go out of our way to attend the annual ceremonies held at each concentration camp in the US, that the Japanese people were incarcerated in. Where they were held against their own will. Where they were separated from their friends. From their very own family. And we TRY our best to GO OUT OF OUR WAY just to pay tribute and commemorate their fallen dead with them. Their true warriors and samurais, we commemorate it all with them.
If you've ever heard of the organization called CAIR (Council on American and Islamic Relations), then you would probably know that they're one of the big organizations out there that does the interrelationship stuff between the Japanese concentration camp commemorations and the Muslim community in America. This is the organization that I went with to go and visit Manzanar. One of the most terrible places on the face of our Earth. One of the places where the Japanese Americans (U.S. citizens, may I remind you) were FORCED to move to.
That trip itself was emotional to say the least. 🥲
If you are a Muslim American and know about the history of your country, and of its relationship to that of your own people, your own Americans, then you should 100% go and attend a Japanese incarceration camp ceremony closest to wherever you live. Trust me, there were SO MANY that there must be at least one or a few that are close by to your house. 😢 But I strongly and highly urge you to go. It may or may not change your life, whether or not you know it.
--
But this brings me back round boat to my review... 😂
I'm really, truly happy that the author WENT out of her way to talk about marginalized communities that were facing persecution during the 9/11 time and Trump era. I'm like REALLY happy that she brought stuff up about that. And it wasn't just once, or twice, or just thrown in there in the acknowledgments- oh NO; she artfully brought it up multiple times throughout the course of this GRAPHIC NOVEL about how much devastation and impact these massive incidents in our history have impacted us. 🥲 She really did, you guys.
🌟 And she brought up about how hurtful and xenophobic the Trump 2016 presidency was towards Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants!! Something that we just don't talk about, or bring up enough about, today. So it was pretty clear that the message in this book wasn't just about the character going through an experience- but also about hope and goal to keep moving on. To keep going forward. 🌟
I really enjoyed reading about how Kiku went through MANY of the experiences that our protagonist went through during the book. And for a graphic novel to cover such interesting topics, and even go in-depth as to what each experience was like, is pretty unusual!
Everything felt so relatable and connective towards me as the reader, so it took me NO time at all to get through it and finish this book up within two or two and half-ish hours. ✅
I most probably would have never picked this book up on my own, given that it's clearly for a younger audience, but I did find that I was able to enjoy it and even recommend it out to a few. This was required reading for my Survey of Young Adult Literature class, and I think I had seen it a few times pop up as a recommendation in those home/domestic lifestyle magazines. So I am glad that I did get to give it a shot!!
A side note about how I READ this book:
My few problems that I DID have with this book, set aside all of the great and phenomenal parts of it, was the fact that some of the character "representation" seemed a little bit off-putting? I mean this specifically towards the main character falling in love with another female character, from the historical past setting of this book, since this would have never happened in the actual 40s- let alone a concentration camp- and just felt like it was not working/flowing well with the rest of the story anyway. 🤷🏻♀️
Another problem that bothered me as well, would be the lightheartedness told about much of the pains and struggles of the Japanese American people within this book, since I feel that the author could have taken things just a BIT more seriously and just a BIT more harsher to give the right reality check needed. I get it. This is a kids book. But if kids are going to learn about the horrors of the holocaust, then with all due respect, they can equally learn about the horrors of the Japanese incarceration camps of our own country as well. :)
Anyways!! Just my thoughts. 💖
I do hope to see more books and pieces of literature like this in the future, since we CLEARLY need a spot for it on our bookshelves and since we CLEARLY just need more of it in general. 😭
Again!! Much appreciation and another BIG thanks to the author for including so much about the persecution of what the American Muslims went through during these hard times and for HOW much it can relate and connect to that of the Japanese American concentration camps. 😊 Really insightful and well done.
And I'm happy to have read it at the end of the day. 🥰
--
Line 4 from PARASAIL by Travis Scott, Yung Lean, and Dave Chappelle.
(Hughes, pg. 203)
--
Did you know that when 9/11/2001 occurred, the very FIRST group of people to step up and become allies, with the Muslim American community, were none other than the Japanese Americans? 🥺
There was NO other group that had the bravery to stand up by our side when our people were being hated on, when we were facing racism at its finest, when we were being "randomly" stopped at airports to get searched, when we were pulled from the side of the road by police only to get harassed, when the FBI would invade our homes and "interview" our own family members for "suspicion of terrorism," there was NO other group that stood by our side. But the Japanese Americans did.
Imagine feeling so alone. Feeling so POLARIZED towards everyone else in your world and in your community. But then another group steps up for you. And speaks for you. And rallies for you. And is so loud and determined and is just there to back you up no matter anything.
Because they went through the same exact thing that we did. That you did.
But because they know, and because they know, they don't want the same thing to happen again. To anyone.
And it is because of this unquestionable love, hope, friendship, and BRAVERY that the Japanese American community showed to the Muslim American community, that one of the most mutual and strong bonds, in the history of American community alliances, was formed. 😌
To this day, us Muslim Americans go out of our way to attend the annual ceremonies held at each concentration camp in the US, that the Japanese people were incarcerated in. Where they were held against their own will. Where they were separated from their friends. From their very own family. And we TRY our best to GO OUT OF OUR WAY just to pay tribute and commemorate their fallen dead with them. Their true warriors and samurais, we commemorate it all with them.
If you've ever heard of the organization called CAIR (Council on American and Islamic Relations), then you would probably know that they're one of the big organizations out there that does the interrelationship stuff between the Japanese concentration camp commemorations and the Muslim community in America. This is the organization that I went with to go and visit Manzanar. One of the most terrible places on the face of our Earth. One of the places where the Japanese Americans (U.S. citizens, may I remind you) were FORCED to move to.
That trip itself was emotional to say the least. 🥲
If you are a Muslim American and know about the history of your country, and of its relationship to that of your own people, your own Americans, then you should 100% go and attend a Japanese incarceration camp ceremony closest to wherever you live. Trust me, there were SO MANY that there must be at least one or a few that are close by to your house. 😢 But I strongly and highly urge you to go. It may or may not change your life, whether or not you know it.
--
But this brings me back round boat to my review... 😂
I'm really, truly happy that the author WENT out of her way to talk about marginalized communities that were facing persecution during the 9/11 time and Trump era. I'm like REALLY happy that she brought stuff up about that. And it wasn't just once, or twice, or just thrown in there in the acknowledgments- oh NO; she artfully brought it up multiple times throughout the course of this GRAPHIC NOVEL about how much devastation and impact these massive incidents in our history have impacted us. 🥲 She really did, you guys.
🌟 And she brought up about how hurtful and xenophobic the Trump 2016 presidency was towards Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants!! Something that we just don't talk about, or bring up enough about, today. So it was pretty clear that the message in this book wasn't just about the character going through an experience- but also about hope and goal to keep moving on. To keep going forward. 🌟
I really enjoyed reading about how Kiku went through MANY of the experiences that our protagonist went through during the book. And for a graphic novel to cover such interesting topics, and even go in-depth as to what each experience was like, is pretty unusual!
Everything felt so relatable and connective towards me as the reader, so it took me NO time at all to get through it and finish this book up within two or two and half-ish hours. ✅
I most probably would have never picked this book up on my own, given that it's clearly for a younger audience, but I did find that I was able to enjoy it and even recommend it out to a few. This was required reading for my Survey of Young Adult Literature class, and I think I had seen it a few times pop up as a recommendation in those home/domestic lifestyle magazines. So I am glad that I did get to give it a shot!!
A side note about how I READ this book:
My few problems that I DID have with this book, set aside all of the great and phenomenal parts of it, was the fact that some of the character "representation" seemed a little bit off-putting? I mean this specifically towards the main character falling in love with another female character, from the historical past setting of this book, since this would have never happened in the actual 40s- let alone a concentration camp- and just felt like it was not working/flowing well with the rest of the story anyway. 🤷🏻♀️
Another problem that bothered me as well, would be the lightheartedness told about much of the pains and struggles of the Japanese American people within this book, since I feel that the author could have taken things just a BIT more seriously and just a BIT more harsher to give the right reality check needed. I get it. This is a kids book. But if kids are going to learn about the horrors of the holocaust, then with all due respect, they can equally learn about the horrors of the Japanese incarceration camps of our own country as well. :)
Anyways!! Just my thoughts. 💖
I do hope to see more books and pieces of literature like this in the future, since we CLEARLY need a spot for it on our bookshelves and since we CLEARLY just need more of it in general. 😭
Again!! Much appreciation and another BIG thanks to the author for including so much about the persecution of what the American Muslims went through during these hard times and for HOW much it can relate and connect to that of the Japanese American concentration camps. 😊 Really insightful and well done.
And I'm happy to have read it at the end of the day. 🥰
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✮ I stand tall, I stand tall ✮
Line 4 from PARASAIL by Travis Scott, Yung Lean, and Dave Chappelle.
September 26, 2021
what an exceptional graphic novel. though I haven't read Kindred by Octavia Butler, this reminds me of that - of a young girl living in this day and age (especially Trump's America) listening to them going on about how 'you aren't american enough' or immigration in general and that bringing up the trauma that Japanese Americans had of internment camps.
i think it did an exceptional job in painting a picture (literally - since it is a graphic novel) on the time, the people and the emotions of then and how the people of now think of it and how they still deal with intergenerational trauma.
"our connection to the past is not lost, even if we don't have all the documents, even if we never learn the details. the memories of community experiences stay with us and continue to affect our lives."
i think it did an exceptional job in painting a picture (literally - since it is a graphic novel) on the time, the people and the emotions of then and how the people of now think of it and how they still deal with intergenerational trauma.
"our connection to the past is not lost, even if we don't have all the documents, even if we never learn the details. the memories of community experiences stay with us and continue to affect our lives."
February 5, 2021
I have been interested in this graphic novel for a while, and was excited when my library got digital copies. However, the story ended up falling flat for me, because even though I appreciate how the author based the narrative on her own Japanese American family history, the plot was shallow. Parts of the story read like a history lesson, and even though I have no objection to history lessons, I expected the author to weave the information into a dynamic story, instead of just relaying it in wordy, didactic text boxes.
The book's modern day political agenda is extremely heavy-handed, and even though the time travel aspect of the premise intrigued me, there is never an adequate explanation for this, in my view, and the character's conversations with her mother at the end seemed very forced. Instead of portraying character growth or change, they just packed in more historical information and political issues. Even though the art in this book is beautiful, it didn't tie in well with everything else, and mostly just seemed like a pretty backdrop to the author's soapbox.
Also, the LGBT rep was so vague, and so poorly developed, that I'm not sure why it was in the book at all. The main character connects with another girl at the camp, and her blushes in a few panels indicate that she is interested in her. They dance together, and they kiss once later in the story, but their relationship is a one-dimensional footnote to everything else that the author was trying to accomplish. The story never engages with the complications of falling in love while traveling in time, the love interest's character is never developed at all, and no element of the story engages with the characters' sexual orientations, how people in the camps might perceive this, or any other realistic consideration that actual people would have dealt with.
Worse, this part of the story gets completely dropped later on in favor of more historical info-dumps, and the main character returns to her modern life without any further reflection, emotions, or reckoning about this romantic experience. It was completely peripheral to the story, and the way that the author handled it greatly limited my ability to suspend disbelief or pretend for a moment that this story was about real people, instead of just being a high-end alternative to a flannelgraph.
This book certainly is educational, and covers a lot of important issues related to the internment camps and their long-term impact on Japanese Americans, but I would recommend other books instead, including George Takei's They Called Us Enemy, which comes from personal experience and is also a graphic novel. It truly works as a graphic novel, with the images, text boxes, and dialogue bubbles supporting each other as a dynamic whole. It is far superior to this story, which was well-meant but deeply flawed in execution.
The book's modern day political agenda is extremely heavy-handed, and even though the time travel aspect of the premise intrigued me, there is never an adequate explanation for this, in my view, and the character's conversations with her mother at the end seemed very forced. Instead of portraying character growth or change, they just packed in more historical information and political issues. Even though the art in this book is beautiful, it didn't tie in well with everything else, and mostly just seemed like a pretty backdrop to the author's soapbox.
Also, the LGBT rep was so vague, and so poorly developed, that I'm not sure why it was in the book at all. The main character connects with another girl at the camp, and her blushes in a few panels indicate that she is interested in her. They dance together, and they kiss once later in the story, but their relationship is a one-dimensional footnote to everything else that the author was trying to accomplish. The story never engages with the complications of falling in love while traveling in time, the love interest's character is never developed at all, and no element of the story engages with the characters' sexual orientations, how people in the camps might perceive this, or any other realistic consideration that actual people would have dealt with.
Worse, this part of the story gets completely dropped later on in favor of more historical info-dumps, and the main character returns to her modern life without any further reflection, emotions, or reckoning about this romantic experience. It was completely peripheral to the story, and the way that the author handled it greatly limited my ability to suspend disbelief or pretend for a moment that this story was about real people, instead of just being a high-end alternative to a flannelgraph.
This book certainly is educational, and covers a lot of important issues related to the internment camps and their long-term impact on Japanese Americans, but I would recommend other books instead, including George Takei's They Called Us Enemy, which comes from personal experience and is also a graphic novel. It truly works as a graphic novel, with the images, text boxes, and dialogue bubbles supporting each other as a dynamic whole. It is far superior to this story, which was well-meant but deeply flawed in execution.
October 17, 2020
This was a wonderful memoir/history lesson and reminder that it’s terribly easy for a government to strip some of its citizens and immigrants of rights through mischaracterization and demonization. The author draws parallels with her own family’s experiences during WWII of being dispossessed of their homes, livelihoods and rights and being sent to internment camps, with the current day dangerous and sickening rhetoric spouted by populist leaders, and the incredibly harmful actions stemming from their words, such as the forcible separation and detainment of children at the US border.
This is a moving story, and with the words and bold artwork, an important reminder of how damage lasts through generations, and how it’s important to keep hope and to fight to prevent racism and other forms of bigotry.
This is a moving story, and with the words and bold artwork, an important reminder of how damage lasts through generations, and how it’s important to keep hope and to fight to prevent racism and other forms of bigotry.
May 1, 2022
what an important & powerful story on generational trauma and the communities hurt and still hurting, so many years later, by japanese internment camps (called, more accurately, incarceration camps in the novel). protagonist kiku is thrown back in time, following her grandmother’s shadow through world war 2 and living through a history that she’d never properly sought to understand.
hughes is a brilliant author & artist, willing to point unafraid at the ways we continue to fail each other in america, not solely in history but also in the modern day. we also get to explore growing up biracial and dissociated from culture and heritage, the queer experience, past and present, and a really beautiful portrait of family.
completely essential, imo, and the best way you’ll spend two hours this summer.
5 stars
hughes is a brilliant author & artist, willing to point unafraid at the ways we continue to fail each other in america, not solely in history but also in the modern day. we also get to explore growing up biracial and dissociated from culture and heritage, the queer experience, past and present, and a really beautiful portrait of family.
completely essential, imo, and the best way you’ll spend two hours this summer.
5 stars
August 21, 2021
Loved how this book explains oppression....
And the fantasy elements were a bonus😉
And the fantasy elements were a bonus😉
February 19, 2024
¡Me encantó! La protagonista se verá transportada temporalmente al año 1940 y conocerá acerca de los campos de internamiento para japoneses en USA. Es una novela gráfica YA súper interesante e importante para conocer más acerca de esta tema.
January 12, 2021
Hughes acknowledges Octavia Butler as an inspiration for this fictionalized story about traveling back in time and living through the Japanese American internment camps of the 1940s. Unfortunately, as Hughes also laments in her notes, she didn't have a lot of first hand accounts from her grandmother's experiences, so it wasn't as powerful as They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, whose first-hand account of the years in the camps as a child revealed the poor treatment of the Japanese-Americans.
I really enjoyed the last couple chapters of this book, when Kiki returns home and talks with her mother about the camps and together they begin to research the history of what it did to Japanese-Americans, how it is still happening today to other peoples in America and how they used their knowledge of history to try to fix the present. That story was far more powerful and I wish that Hughes had focused more on that real journey because you could feel the passion.
I would recommend this for younger teens who might not be aware of the Internment camps, who will be just as innocent as Kiki was about the history.
I really enjoyed the last couple chapters of this book, when Kiki returns home and talks with her mother about the camps and together they begin to research the history of what it did to Japanese-Americans, how it is still happening today to other peoples in America and how they used their knowledge of history to try to fix the present. That story was far more powerful and I wish that Hughes had focused more on that real journey because you could feel the passion.
I would recommend this for younger teens who might not be aware of the Internment camps, who will be just as innocent as Kiki was about the history.
July 3, 2021
4.5
I'm always disappointed but not surprised to learn about the amount of Americans who don't know about the Japanese internment camps of the 1940s; along with the Tulsa massacre, they're one of the most vital to know about yet still undertaught topics in the curriculum (when they even appear at all). While I had expected Kiku's grandmother to feature more heavily in the book, I ended up really appreciating the decision for her not to be a major character, as a strong theme is Kiku's feelings of detachment from her grandmother and her Japanese heritage. It would ring false to have Ernestina feature as a prominent character when the lack of knowledge around her is so central to Kiku.
I think that this is definitely a book that should be taught in schools; it breaks down the history of the camps and the experiences within them while drawing relevant parallels to today's world.
I'm always disappointed but not surprised to learn about the amount of Americans who don't know about the Japanese internment camps of the 1940s; along with the Tulsa massacre, they're one of the most vital to know about yet still undertaught topics in the curriculum (when they even appear at all). While I had expected Kiku's grandmother to feature more heavily in the book, I ended up really appreciating the decision for her not to be a major character, as a strong theme is Kiku's feelings of detachment from her grandmother and her Japanese heritage. It would ring false to have Ernestina feature as a prominent character when the lack of knowledge around her is so central to Kiku.
I think that this is definitely a book that should be taught in schools; it breaks down the history of the camps and the experiences within them while drawing relevant parallels to today's world.
April 20, 2021
First, this book is beautiful. It is easy to read. The content is fantastic and it is definitely s must read for all ages.
I’m so pleased to have this book on my shelf. This will be a book that I will revisit and force those in my vicinity to read. I immediately saw a connection to my all time favorite book Kindred by Octavia Butler. That got me excited.
This book is about family history, community and how trauma stays in memory through generations. We must never forget the past. History is often written in a luke warm temperature to keep oppressed people in line. The truly outrageous events and acts are rarely ever told.
I’m so pleased to have this book on my shelf. This will be a book that I will revisit and force those in my vicinity to read. I immediately saw a connection to my all time favorite book Kindred by Octavia Butler. That got me excited.
This book is about family history, community and how trauma stays in memory through generations. We must never forget the past. History is often written in a luke warm temperature to keep oppressed people in line. The truly outrageous events and acts are rarely ever told.
June 7, 2020
Absolutely fantastic middle grade graphic novel - a mix of memoir and fiction - that should be required reading for all ages. This is about the power of memory, of sharing stories, generational trauma and its ripple effects, the power of history and how incredibly relevant it is today. The illustrations are beautiful and Kiku is such a relatable character to take this journey with. Highly recommend.
Thank you to First Second and Netgalley for a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to First Second and Netgalley for a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
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