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My Name Is America
The Journal of Ben Uchida: Citizen 13559 Mirror Lake Internment Camp
Twelve-year-old Ben Uchida keeps a journal of his experiences as a prisoner in a Japanese internment camp in Mirror Lake, California, during World War II
160 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1999
18 people are currently reading
851 people want to read
About the author
Barry Denenberg
43 books82 followersBarry Denenberg is the critically acclaimed author of non-fiction and historical fiction. His historical fiction includes titles in the Dear America, My Name is America, and Royal Diaries series, many of which have been named NCSS/CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People. His nonfiction books have covered a wide array of topics, from Anne Frank to Elvis Presley. After the publication of An American Hero: The True Story of Charles Lindburgh, Denenberg was interviewed for various documentaries including ABC’s “The Century.”
Denenberg was born in Brooklyn, New York and lived in Long Island, Binghamton, New York, and Palisades Park, New Jersey. “I was a serious reader from an early age and when I attended Boston University in 1968, majoring in history, I worked in a bookstore at night,” he says. “After college I was a book buyer for some fine, independent bookstores, some of the nation’s largest retail book chains and a marketing executive in publishing.
“At the age of forty I came to the startling realization that the glamorous world of power lunches, power politics, and power trips was not for me. I immediately went to work on the Great American Novel (since destroyed) and was rescued when my future wife, Jean Feiwel (then and now publisher of Scholastic Inc.) made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Scholastic had received a biography of John F. Kennedy that they deemed unacceptable: would I like to try and write one?
“The rest is history in more ways than one. I went on to write biographies of Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, J. Edgar Hoover, Nelson Mandela, Elvis Presley and Voices From Vietnam, an oral history of the war.
“Writing some of the first books in the Dear America series was a turning point in my career. Its popularity and the resulting readers’ letters made a great impression on me. This in turn inspired my writing and fueled my research. With my bookstore background and the help of numerous knowledgeable booksellers I am able to assemble an extensive bibliography on each topic I write.
“I think there’s an art to both writing and research. I’m a good writer but a better researcher.”
Something that has added greatly to Denenberg’s perspective on writing for young readers is his volunteer work as Director of Creative Writing and Library Services at the Waterside School in Stamford, Connecticut. Waterside, established in 2001, is an independent school dedicated to educating gifted children of the communities’ low-income families.
Aside from writing and teaching Denenberg’s interests include listening to music, reading (books not related to his research), swimming, practicing yoga and spending time with his family.
Barry Denenberg lives in Bedford, New York with his wife and daughter.
Denenberg was born in Brooklyn, New York and lived in Long Island, Binghamton, New York, and Palisades Park, New Jersey. “I was a serious reader from an early age and when I attended Boston University in 1968, majoring in history, I worked in a bookstore at night,” he says. “After college I was a book buyer for some fine, independent bookstores, some of the nation’s largest retail book chains and a marketing executive in publishing.
“At the age of forty I came to the startling realization that the glamorous world of power lunches, power politics, and power trips was not for me. I immediately went to work on the Great American Novel (since destroyed) and was rescued when my future wife, Jean Feiwel (then and now publisher of Scholastic Inc.) made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Scholastic had received a biography of John F. Kennedy that they deemed unacceptable: would I like to try and write one?
“The rest is history in more ways than one. I went on to write biographies of Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, J. Edgar Hoover, Nelson Mandela, Elvis Presley and Voices From Vietnam, an oral history of the war.
“Writing some of the first books in the Dear America series was a turning point in my career. Its popularity and the resulting readers’ letters made a great impression on me. This in turn inspired my writing and fueled my research. With my bookstore background and the help of numerous knowledgeable booksellers I am able to assemble an extensive bibliography on each topic I write.
“I think there’s an art to both writing and research. I’m a good writer but a better researcher.”
Something that has added greatly to Denenberg’s perspective on writing for young readers is his volunteer work as Director of Creative Writing and Library Services at the Waterside School in Stamford, Connecticut. Waterside, established in 2001, is an independent school dedicated to educating gifted children of the communities’ low-income families.
Aside from writing and teaching Denenberg’s interests include listening to music, reading (books not related to his research), swimming, practicing yoga and spending time with his family.
Barry Denenberg lives in Bedford, New York with his wife and daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews
January 29, 2022
I thought this started off well and showed the physical, mental, and emotional difficulties of life in an internment camp. I was irked by the fact that the people literally had nothing to do all day, but were charged money to attend events like concerts. They did find some ways to occupy their time, but were awfully limited in means and mode.
I came into this book with no real knowledge of Japanese internment camps, and while I learned a little, I was left wanting something more. The surprisingly abrupt ending didn't provide a satisfactory continuance or conclusion to Ben's story. The epilogue offered very brief answers to what became of the major characters, but I expected more about Ben himself. I know he's a fictional character but I still would have liked to know how his time at the camp affected his life in the future. The historical note was informative, providing context and a better understanding of the why.
A good topic to be included in the series as it covers an important part of history, but not as enlightening as other books in the series.
I came into this book with no real knowledge of Japanese internment camps, and while I learned a little, I was left wanting something more. The surprisingly abrupt ending didn't provide a satisfactory continuance or conclusion to Ben's story. The epilogue offered very brief answers to what became of the major characters, but I expected more about Ben himself. I know he's a fictional character but I still would have liked to know how his time at the camp affected his life in the future. The historical note was informative, providing context and a better understanding of the why.
A good topic to be included in the series as it covers an important part of history, but not as enlightening as other books in the series.
January 22, 2018
This is a journal about a time few children know about now. They do know about world war 2, but the internment of the Japanese not so much.
This book does a good job of showing what it was like, and how many people reacted. Ben is an extremely relatable character, as he has the typical worries of a 12 year old, as well as the worries of the internment camp. He has a very sarcastic voice as well, which I loved.
This is a good series to get young kids interested in history.
This book does a good job of showing what it was like, and how many people reacted. Ben is an extremely relatable character, as he has the typical worries of a 12 year old, as well as the worries of the internment camp. He has a very sarcastic voice as well, which I loved.
This is a good series to get young kids interested in history.
February 25, 2021
The Good:
-Ben's narration was done well. He is funny, sarcastic, and believable as a snarky but good-hearted teen.
-The side characters are likable too.
-There are some enjoyable smaller side plots, and good descriptive detail of the environment.
-There is a labeled photo of Manzanar that folds out at the very end. Interesting detail that I have never seen in a Dear America book before.
The Bad:
-The emotional effects on the camp prisoners were skimmed over. Ben sometimes shows frustration and cynicism in a snappy one-liner, but there was nothing truly impactful enough to make me feel what he felt.
-The proverb about many chopsticks being stronger than one, and the description of traditional ways as "Japanesey" feel awkward in the hands of a writer who isn't Japanese. I don't think there was any bad intent in this, it just plays too much into stereotypes.
-The story stops completely out of the blue, and doesn't leave you with anything interesting to think about. And there are a lot of loose ends. Did Charles Hamada and Ben become friends? How did Mr. Uchida's condition really impact the family? We'll never know!
-Epilogues aren't Barry Denenberg's strong point. So you're out of luck if you want to know if Naomi became an artist, or why Ben never got married despite clearly being interested in girls. It's just sparse and unsatisfying.
A better World War II Barry Denenberg book than Early Sunday Morning, but not great.
-Ben's narration was done well. He is funny, sarcastic, and believable as a snarky but good-hearted teen.
-The side characters are likable too.
-There are some enjoyable smaller side plots, and good descriptive detail of the environment.
-There is a labeled photo of Manzanar that folds out at the very end. Interesting detail that I have never seen in a Dear America book before.
The Bad:
-The emotional effects on the camp prisoners were skimmed over. Ben sometimes shows frustration and cynicism in a snappy one-liner, but there was nothing truly impactful enough to make me feel what he felt.
-The proverb about many chopsticks being stronger than one, and the description of traditional ways as "Japanesey" feel awkward in the hands of a writer who isn't Japanese. I don't think there was any bad intent in this, it just plays too much into stereotypes.
-The story stops completely out of the blue, and doesn't leave you with anything interesting to think about. And there are a lot of loose ends. Did Charles Hamada and Ben become friends? How did Mr. Uchida's condition really impact the family? We'll never know!
-Epilogues aren't Barry Denenberg's strong point. So you're out of luck if you want to know if Naomi became an artist, or why Ben never got married despite clearly being interested in girls. It's just sparse and unsatisfying.
A better World War II Barry Denenberg book than Early Sunday Morning, but not great.
December 9, 2021
Finally, this is the last book in the series by Denenberg. Another dud. Did he even have an editor review this? The dates kept getting messes up. I thought it would be explained later that Ben got the dates mixed up because of where he was, but no. One day it was Monday, June 15th. Followed by an entry from Friday, June 9th, then followed by an entry from Sunday, June 18th. This happened throughout the book and was very distracting.
The end was abrupt and dark. It also didn't give a very good picture of how long this happened. Also at one point a kid answered that Chicago is the capital of Illinois, which is wrong, but there was no correction of that. I wonder what other facts he messed up.
The end was abrupt and dark. It also didn't give a very good picture of how long this happened. Also at one point a kid answered that Chicago is the capital of Illinois, which is wrong, but there was no correction of that. I wonder what other facts he messed up.
February 16, 2016
After the time of the Pearl Harbor bombing many people in California couldn't trust the Japanese people. This book is based on a boy named Ben Uchida and what changed in his life during WWII. This book is basically the boy version of the Diary of Anne Frank. This story helps show a different side of WWII the way we were brought up on. We were always told the Germans put the Jews in concentration camps just because they are Jewish and they didn't like the ajews. But we did the same thing to the Japanese people by taking them away and putting them in concentration camps just because they are Japanese. Overall, I would recommend this nook to boys or girls that want to see a different side of WWII or people who like Anne Frank but want to see something similar.
November 12, 2012
This entire series is a wonderful way to learn history or teach it to adolescents. I find today's generations seem to recall more when they learn through other people (pop songs, celebrity gossip, etc.), so what better way to teach history than through someone else's perspective? Yes, "authentic" diaries would be "better", but would the language really hold the modern student's attention? Did the diary writer know what WOULD be important in the context of history? Probably not.
May 16, 2016
I liked reading this book because it showed what the Japanese-Americans were going through during WW2. Ben is a very relatable kid and he tells the story through his own perspective. This book shows the discrimination that was happening at this time. There are also a lot of stories that normal teenagers would do.
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September 9, 2016I think about this Ben from China or somewhere and he name Ben Uchida's family move in america and prison gate just inside and outside hot weather then they give number make know number just like code but I know he doing and something.
July 11, 2015
Great in its realism at the beginning but then ended abruptly and left the whole story hanging. Would have been great if it had kept going.
February 12, 2023
I read this book as prep work for my history class for 5th graders that I'm teaching. Its an entertaining story, and the beginning lays some great groundwork for understanding the time-period. I hoped for more discussions of the greater political situations, but that didn't happen. Obviously, this is a kids book written as a diary, so I'm not disappointed necesarily that I didn't get my deeper historical contexts.
That said, the overall story was fairly light on plot, more served as a general book about what life was like in the Japanese internment camps. It really loses steam near the end, and needed some more solid resolution. Instead, the book cuts right oto an epilogue that tries to "and then this character married this character and this character got a job here". It could have had 20 more pages to give the ending a proper climax and a proper resolution.
Overall, an ok book with great messages about treating people differently. 6 out of 10.
That said, the overall story was fairly light on plot, more served as a general book about what life was like in the Japanese internment camps. It really loses steam near the end, and needed some more solid resolution. Instead, the book cuts right oto an epilogue that tries to "and then this character married this character and this character got a job here". It could have had 20 more pages to give the ending a proper climax and a proper resolution.
Overall, an ok book with great messages about treating people differently. 6 out of 10.
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July 14, 2024I have a love/hate relationship with Barry Denenberg. Sometimes he writes well for the time period he's talking about, and sometimes he really butchers it. I think this book, with my limited information about this particular time frame, hits right in the middle.
Ben is a hilariously sarcastic character, and I enjoyed his voice. I was sick to my stomach thinking about how all this happened just 80-ish years ago. I would have loved if this story was written by a Japanese-American writer, but I think Denenberg did pretty okay.
Ben is a hilariously sarcastic character, and I enjoyed his voice. I was sick to my stomach thinking about how all this happened just 80-ish years ago. I would have loved if this story was written by a Japanese-American writer, but I think Denenberg did pretty okay.
October 30, 2018
Ashamed that this happened, but glad that it's documented.
March 3, 2015
Book Review: The Journal of Ben Uchida
I read the book My Name is America: The Journal of Ben Uchida by Berry Denenberg. This book was published by Scholastic in New York, New York in October of 2002. I recommend this book because it gave a lot of interesting factual information, while being a fiction, fun book that is exciting for the reader.
The Journal of Ben Uchida is a story about a boy around the age of eleven who writes in a journal about what goes on inside of an internment camp in California called Mirror Lake Internment Camp. This book is based in the time of World War 2 and starts just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Ben kept a journal for a brief time before leaving for the internment camp and so it is nice to know what his life was like before he had to leave for such a horrible place. The father of Ben was taken away and brought to a place in Montana which was to make sure the Asian-Americans were not spies. It was horrible, the men were pretty much brainwashed. Ben had no idea if he would ever see his father again. Ben also had a mother and a sister, Naomi. Naomi was into painting and making news articles. When the family got to the camp which they took train to get to, they noticed they had to share an apartment with another family. Mrs. Uchida did not like this very much. The family they stayed with was very nice and eventually Mrs. Uchida became fine with it and both the families became friends. Ben met a few boys one day that were into playing baseball. Ben played baseball at home and joined the team. Each district of barracks had a team. Many adult men would bet on the games, it was some of their only entertainment. At the camps they had to wait in long lasting lines just to do everyday things like eat, go to the bathroom, or even shower. The camps also put a school together. The class rooms were tiny and each of them had at least fifty kids. The teacher did not like Ben much because he did not get very good grades. Internment camps were hell to live in to many of these people because most of them were just regular people, not spies, but were being discriminated because a country that their parents had come from had bombed them.
Ben, the main character, is a young boy who just wants to be back at home with his old friends. He is an athletic, funny, troublemaking kid that can make friends with anyone. He plays all kinds of sports with his friends and is up for anything. His mother is tough on him much of the time, especially since his dad left. Ben writes back and forth with his best friend back home a lot. He cannot get news about his favorite baseball team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, where he is so his friend Robbie writes him telling him about how they are doing and asks Ben a lot of questions about what is happening in the camp. In one of his letters, he sends Ben his Brooklyn Dodgers cap. “Here’s you cap. I bet you’re wondering where I got it.” This shows how much Ben is missed by many of the people he lived with before being sent to an internment camp.
The author did a great job of showing how a young Japanese-American boy would talk to his family and friends. In a part of the book Ben say, “Mama made me help her hang the wash on the outdoor clotheslines. Usually Naomi helps her with that kind of junk, but Mama said she was drawing something for the newspaper. As if that’s a better excuse than baseball.” This quote really shows that the author knows how a young boy thinks and it makes the story that much better. I especially like the end of the book because it tells the reader everything there is that they need to know about how everyone in the books life was after leaving the internment camps. There is a lot of sad information about what happened to some of the people but also some very heartwarming things as well. I am really glad the author added this, or else the book would have ended so abruptly and you would be stuck on your couch wondering about so much.
Overall, My Name is America: The Journal of Ben Uchida was a fantastic book with a lot of knowledgeable information, but also was a fictional book with a great story line. If you are interested in history or war I would highly recommend this book.
I read the book My Name is America: The Journal of Ben Uchida by Berry Denenberg. This book was published by Scholastic in New York, New York in October of 2002. I recommend this book because it gave a lot of interesting factual information, while being a fiction, fun book that is exciting for the reader.
The Journal of Ben Uchida is a story about a boy around the age of eleven who writes in a journal about what goes on inside of an internment camp in California called Mirror Lake Internment Camp. This book is based in the time of World War 2 and starts just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Ben kept a journal for a brief time before leaving for the internment camp and so it is nice to know what his life was like before he had to leave for such a horrible place. The father of Ben was taken away and brought to a place in Montana which was to make sure the Asian-Americans were not spies. It was horrible, the men were pretty much brainwashed. Ben had no idea if he would ever see his father again. Ben also had a mother and a sister, Naomi. Naomi was into painting and making news articles. When the family got to the camp which they took train to get to, they noticed they had to share an apartment with another family. Mrs. Uchida did not like this very much. The family they stayed with was very nice and eventually Mrs. Uchida became fine with it and both the families became friends. Ben met a few boys one day that were into playing baseball. Ben played baseball at home and joined the team. Each district of barracks had a team. Many adult men would bet on the games, it was some of their only entertainment. At the camps they had to wait in long lasting lines just to do everyday things like eat, go to the bathroom, or even shower. The camps also put a school together. The class rooms were tiny and each of them had at least fifty kids. The teacher did not like Ben much because he did not get very good grades. Internment camps were hell to live in to many of these people because most of them were just regular people, not spies, but were being discriminated because a country that their parents had come from had bombed them.
Ben, the main character, is a young boy who just wants to be back at home with his old friends. He is an athletic, funny, troublemaking kid that can make friends with anyone. He plays all kinds of sports with his friends and is up for anything. His mother is tough on him much of the time, especially since his dad left. Ben writes back and forth with his best friend back home a lot. He cannot get news about his favorite baseball team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, where he is so his friend Robbie writes him telling him about how they are doing and asks Ben a lot of questions about what is happening in the camp. In one of his letters, he sends Ben his Brooklyn Dodgers cap. “Here’s you cap. I bet you’re wondering where I got it.” This shows how much Ben is missed by many of the people he lived with before being sent to an internment camp.
The author did a great job of showing how a young Japanese-American boy would talk to his family and friends. In a part of the book Ben say, “Mama made me help her hang the wash on the outdoor clotheslines. Usually Naomi helps her with that kind of junk, but Mama said she was drawing something for the newspaper. As if that’s a better excuse than baseball.” This quote really shows that the author knows how a young boy thinks and it makes the story that much better. I especially like the end of the book because it tells the reader everything there is that they need to know about how everyone in the books life was after leaving the internment camps. There is a lot of sad information about what happened to some of the people but also some very heartwarming things as well. I am really glad the author added this, or else the book would have ended so abruptly and you would be stuck on your couch wondering about so much.
Overall, My Name is America: The Journal of Ben Uchida was a fantastic book with a lot of knowledgeable information, but also was a fictional book with a great story line. If you are interested in history or war I would highly recommend this book.
April 9, 2009
A fictional journal of a boy before and during his internment during WWII that I definitely recommend using this with middle school students as a supplement to their social studies unit on WWII. The sentence structure and vocabulary are just right for my student population, and the narrator is REALISTIC--he sounds like my kids.
Conflicts include the father being taken away to be interrogated for over a year, the rest of the family being sent to god knows where, life in the internment camp, getting father back a zombie, having a friend get involved in baseball gambling and then throwing a game, having a roommate who has been separated from his wife in Japan who worries throughout the book only to finally find relief when he receives letter indicating that she and his daughter are safe at his brother's house in Hiroshima.....
They boy reports about the problems and the benefits in a seemingly honest way, and I did get a better sense of life in the camp than when I read a nonfiction book about Japanese Internment in my middle school library.
My issue with the text is this: The author writes in near-perfect, grammatically sound sentences that still captures this middle-school voice. For example, he'd say that this know-it-all kid is "half Japanese, half Jerk" and when he's talking, Ben "tried not to puke." So, I could see the narrator being a normal kid. I know that my students can't write with perfect punctuation, and I'm so THANKFUL that the author chose to write with the standards of proper English anyway, at no expense, even though it's a "journal." The problem is, just like in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, the author uses improper grammar as far as pronoun usage goes, which angers me! Why? Why? Why? (Example: "Me and Naomi went to the mess hall") This kind of error is so pervasive in this country that soon the correct syntax "Naomi and I went to the mess hall") will sound completely foreign. I want my students to read more SO THAT they will be exposed to proper grammar, usage, mechanics, and spelling. Since the author chose not to use real-life lack of punctuation and a bunch of spelling errors, my only guess is that these authors (Denenberg & Jeff Kinney) really don't know better. I assume that they themselves don't know how to use the correct pronoun in a sentence with a compound subject or direct object.
I have noticed that the word "till" as a shortened version of "until" is now commonly used and accepted. It's in my son's basal readers AND in countless books that I've read in the last month. Will it be acceptable, pretty soon, to start saying "Me and him are best friends" ? While I will perpetually cringe, I suppose it will make my job easier (I don't really mean that).
I implore the editors of this book series (Dear America) to publish no more books without correcting these errors!
Overall, a good text to peddle to your students for educational purposes (at the expense of your grammar lessons). It even includes some nonfiction historical background at the end of the book for which I am enthusiastically envisioning the possibilities.
Conflicts include the father being taken away to be interrogated for over a year, the rest of the family being sent to god knows where, life in the internment camp, getting father back a zombie, having a friend get involved in baseball gambling and then throwing a game, having a roommate who has been separated from his wife in Japan who worries throughout the book only to finally find relief when he receives letter indicating that she and his daughter are safe at his brother's house in Hiroshima.....
They boy reports about the problems and the benefits in a seemingly honest way, and I did get a better sense of life in the camp than when I read a nonfiction book about Japanese Internment in my middle school library.
My issue with the text is this: The author writes in near-perfect, grammatically sound sentences that still captures this middle-school voice. For example, he'd say that this know-it-all kid is "half Japanese, half Jerk" and when he's talking, Ben "tried not to puke." So, I could see the narrator being a normal kid. I know that my students can't write with perfect punctuation, and I'm so THANKFUL that the author chose to write with the standards of proper English anyway, at no expense, even though it's a "journal." The problem is, just like in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, the author uses improper grammar as far as pronoun usage goes, which angers me! Why? Why? Why? (Example: "Me and Naomi went to the mess hall") This kind of error is so pervasive in this country that soon the correct syntax "Naomi and I went to the mess hall") will sound completely foreign. I want my students to read more SO THAT they will be exposed to proper grammar, usage, mechanics, and spelling. Since the author chose not to use real-life lack of punctuation and a bunch of spelling errors, my only guess is that these authors (Denenberg & Jeff Kinney) really don't know better. I assume that they themselves don't know how to use the correct pronoun in a sentence with a compound subject or direct object.
I have noticed that the word "till" as a shortened version of "until" is now commonly used and accepted. It's in my son's basal readers AND in countless books that I've read in the last month. Will it be acceptable, pretty soon, to start saying "Me and him are best friends" ? While I will perpetually cringe, I suppose it will make my job easier (I don't really mean that).
I implore the editors of this book series (Dear America) to publish no more books without correcting these errors!
Overall, a good text to peddle to your students for educational purposes (at the expense of your grammar lessons). It even includes some nonfiction historical background at the end of the book for which I am enthusiastically envisioning the possibilities.
January 24, 2016
How would you feel if you and a group of people you know who are alike in some way were suddenly gathered up by the government, forced to sell most of their possessions, and then were shipped to an area surrounded by barbed wire and filled with run-down shacks? The area would be called an internment camp.
Neither you nor any of people would receive any legal advice or trials before they were shipped to the camp; none of you would even be charged with anything. The camp would be surrounded by high towers containing men with machine guns who could, if they felt someone was trying to escape, kill them.
You would also not have any idea how long you were going to be kept there. You could write letters to friends, but the letters would be heavily censored as would be any letters you receive. You would not have indoor plumbing. You would only have furniture you could build from scrap lumber. You would have to stand in long lines for almost everything.
Add to this the possibility that the home you left behind would be burned to the ground because you belonged to that specific group. It would probably not be a very pleasant experience, to put it mildly.
Yet this is exactly what was done during World War II to Japanese-Americans. Executive Order 9066 gave the government permission to do just that type of thing for "military necessity." As a result, 120,000 people were placed into these camps, seventy percent of them having been born in America to Japanese parents or Japanese-American parents.
This book is the story of a fictional young boy, Ben Uchida, who is taken to an internment camp along with the rest of his family except for his father who is taken somewhere else.
It's a very interesting book in many ways. The historical section is, as always, quite informative. The story itself helps bring alive the type of camp life the people had to live and shows very vividly how discrimination and prejudice can occur in the U.S. Just one of the various interesting things pointed out was that it was only the Japanese-Americans who were put into internment camps; not the Germans or the Italians who were also fighting at the time.
The only criticism I have of the book is that, at times, the language Ben Uchida uses seems a little too modern and a little too grown-up for someone of his age and time.
Neither you nor any of people would receive any legal advice or trials before they were shipped to the camp; none of you would even be charged with anything. The camp would be surrounded by high towers containing men with machine guns who could, if they felt someone was trying to escape, kill them.
You would also not have any idea how long you were going to be kept there. You could write letters to friends, but the letters would be heavily censored as would be any letters you receive. You would not have indoor plumbing. You would only have furniture you could build from scrap lumber. You would have to stand in long lines for almost everything.
Add to this the possibility that the home you left behind would be burned to the ground because you belonged to that specific group. It would probably not be a very pleasant experience, to put it mildly.
Yet this is exactly what was done during World War II to Japanese-Americans. Executive Order 9066 gave the government permission to do just that type of thing for "military necessity." As a result, 120,000 people were placed into these camps, seventy percent of them having been born in America to Japanese parents or Japanese-American parents.
This book is the story of a fictional young boy, Ben Uchida, who is taken to an internment camp along with the rest of his family except for his father who is taken somewhere else.
It's a very interesting book in many ways. The historical section is, as always, quite informative. The story itself helps bring alive the type of camp life the people had to live and shows very vividly how discrimination and prejudice can occur in the U.S. Just one of the various interesting things pointed out was that it was only the Japanese-Americans who were put into internment camps; not the Germans or the Italians who were also fighting at the time.
The only criticism I have of the book is that, at times, the language Ben Uchida uses seems a little too modern and a little too grown-up for someone of his age and time.
March 24, 2014
Two months after Pearl Harbor, FDR signed Executive Order 9066, which called for the internment of Japanese Americans. There was no such internment for Italian or German Americans. Japanese bank accounts were frozen, which caused them to sell off businesses, furnishings,and autos at huge losses. They were put on trains for unknown destinations, in violation of their Constitutional Rights. No Charges, No Trial... Camps were in the most desolate areas of California, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Arkansas, Colorado, and Wyoming. These camps would normally house combat soldiers for a short duration, but in 1941, they housed 8 people in a 20X22 room for the duration of the war.
Anti Asian Discrimination began with the influx of Chinese laborers for the TransContinental Railroad. They were assigned only the most dangerous jobs. By 1850, California had passed State Articles that prohibited citizenship, court testimony, public education, and employment in any profession that required licsensing. By 1882, Congress passed a Chinese Excluslion Act, which limited immigration. This created a cheap labor source, so they began to import Japanese. They fell under the same restrictions as the Chinese. It wasn't until 1952, when the McCarran-Walter Immigration and Naturalization Act allowed first generation Asian Americans citizenship.
Pearl Harbor and Exec. Order 9066 were later called "Legalized Racism" by a Supreme Court Justice. Time heals all wounds, however, and President Ford, in 1976, rescinded that order and called it "an honest reckoning of a national mistake." President Reagan, in 1988, signed the Civil Liberties Act, which offered an Official U.S. Apology and a $20,000 restitution to survivors. He also paid tribute to Japanese-American soldiers who had died in battle.
My favorite Reagan saying, "Blood soaked into a sandy beach is all one color. America is unique in that is not founded on race, but on ideals. Because of our diversity, we have the strength of the world. THAT is the American Way."
Anti Asian Discrimination began with the influx of Chinese laborers for the TransContinental Railroad. They were assigned only the most dangerous jobs. By 1850, California had passed State Articles that prohibited citizenship, court testimony, public education, and employment in any profession that required licsensing. By 1882, Congress passed a Chinese Excluslion Act, which limited immigration. This created a cheap labor source, so they began to import Japanese. They fell under the same restrictions as the Chinese. It wasn't until 1952, when the McCarran-Walter Immigration and Naturalization Act allowed first generation Asian Americans citizenship.
Pearl Harbor and Exec. Order 9066 were later called "Legalized Racism" by a Supreme Court Justice. Time heals all wounds, however, and President Ford, in 1976, rescinded that order and called it "an honest reckoning of a national mistake." President Reagan, in 1988, signed the Civil Liberties Act, which offered an Official U.S. Apology and a $20,000 restitution to survivors. He also paid tribute to Japanese-American soldiers who had died in battle.
My favorite Reagan saying, "Blood soaked into a sandy beach is all one color. America is unique in that is not founded on race, but on ideals. Because of our diversity, we have the strength of the world. THAT is the American Way."
August 18, 2013
The two-star rating is a little misleading -- I thought this book was churning along really pretty well, with a readable and nuanced vision of how a middle school boy might have felt thrown into an World War II internment camp. Then the story crashed to a screeching halt in January 1943, right when the adults at Mirror Lake are presented with the War Department's loyalty questionnaire. Ben does some interesting rumination on how Japanese-Americans could assert their identities by giving various answers to the questions, and then bam, the book is over. All the developing plot arcs stop dead, with no resolution other than a weak and sketchy epilogue, followed by the obligatory historical note and picture section.
It was just so weird. I'm beginning to think this is part of the required formula for the My Name is America series, because the Donner Party one did exactly the same thing. I don't remember the Dear America books I read a decade ago chopping off like this; they definitely seemed to have satisfying endings. Anyway, I'd love to know the reasoning behind the ending style of these books, because it really destroys the story.
It's worth saying, though -- from a historigraphical basis, the end note deserves a review of its own; it provides a very interesting condensed-version history of Asian-Americans in the United States aimed at preteens, running from the transcontinental railroad through the Alien Land Law and McCarran-Walter Act, up to the restitution in 1988. It may be the part of the book that provides the most to chew on.
It was just so weird. I'm beginning to think this is part of the required formula for the My Name is America series, because the Donner Party one did exactly the same thing. I don't remember the Dear America books I read a decade ago chopping off like this; they definitely seemed to have satisfying endings. Anyway, I'd love to know the reasoning behind the ending style of these books, because it really destroys the story.
It's worth saying, though -- from a historigraphical basis, the end note deserves a review of its own; it provides a very interesting condensed-version history of Asian-Americans in the United States aimed at preteens, running from the transcontinental railroad through the Alien Land Law and McCarran-Walter Act, up to the restitution in 1988. It may be the part of the book that provides the most to chew on.
August 10, 2017
I knew the basic story behind Topaz and other such internment camps. But for some reason I had never truly realized how much they were like the Nazi concentration camps. Just as in Europe, people here (Japanese instead of Jews) were deprived of their freedom and property, herded onto trains and buses, and forcibly relocated to armed enclosures in desolate places. And they were given numbers to identify themselves and/or their families. All this without due process of law for 120,000 Japanese Americans, seventy percent of whom were citizens by birth, having been born on American soil. All because others feared that they may feel allegiance to Japan rather than America. Even though not even a single case of subversive activity was found to be committed by a Japanese American during all of World War II. And in spite of the fact that we were also at war with Germany and Italy, no Americans of this descent or enemy aliens from these countries were ever subjected to the Exclusion Order, or as Associate Judge Frank Murphy of the U.S. Supreme Court called it, the "legalization of racism." The only real difference between America and the Nazis was that we didn't kill millions of prisoners in the camps.
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September 8, 2015The Journal 0f Ben Uchidia by Barry Denenberg was a fantastic book. It was a new point of view on the world wars. Instead of jewsish people being held captive, it's japanese people! There was also all out war going against Japan and the Usa. It was fun to read from a new point of view.
Ben Uchida is an ordinary japanese person who lives in a world of war. Japanese and America are fighting a visious war. People from Japan were caught right in the middle of it. Any japanese person living in the United
States are put in cages, kind of. Read the rest of this glorious book to find out what Ben Uchida experiences.
I recommend this book to those who love everything about the world wars. From endless fighting to a lot of suffering. I think that adults should read this book. I say that because this was a hard and bloody time in american history. It also might be a little bit too gruesome. However, I loved the book as it is.
hi mrs.Jones
Ben Uchida is an ordinary japanese person who lives in a world of war. Japanese and America are fighting a visious war. People from Japan were caught right in the middle of it. Any japanese person living in the United
States are put in cages, kind of. Read the rest of this glorious book to find out what Ben Uchida experiences.
I recommend this book to those who love everything about the world wars. From endless fighting to a lot of suffering. I think that adults should read this book. I say that because this was a hard and bloody time in american history. It also might be a little bit too gruesome. However, I loved the book as it is.
hi mrs.Jones
January 29, 2010
The main characters are: Ben Uchida,Naomi,Mama,and Papa. I don't know anybody like them, though. Ben Uchida is an adventurous boy. Naomi likes to go to school. Papa is very kind. Mama likes to do laundry. The year is 1942, World War Two. The Japanese have to go to camps. Somewhat like concentration camps. That includes the Uchida family. They are Japanese. About 11,000 Japanese were put in camps, when two-thirds were American citizens. The Americans must have thought that the Japanese would go on a riots or something of the sort.
I liked the book. I never knew about the Japanese-Americans going into camps like that. That is ridiculous, how most were loyal American citizens. This book was hard to put down. It has my recommendation. I hope I influenced people to read it. "Expect the Unexpected"
I liked the book. I never knew about the Japanese-Americans going into camps like that. That is ridiculous, how most were loyal American citizens. This book was hard to put down. It has my recommendation. I hope I influenced people to read it. "Expect the Unexpected"
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December 5, 2014I really loved Ben Uchida's journal that he wrote. I thought that it was really inspirational about the things that he had to go through. I also think that it was very cool that he wrote this journal while in a so called prison and then went on to publish it.
The beginning of the story starts on the day that Pearl Harbor got bombed. The next day when he went to school he was called very mean things since he was Japanese. His father was then taken somewhere with the F.B.I. His family was then takin to a camp called Mirror Lake where he lived for a number of years. His family lived in a thing called a block and at one point each block started a baseball team. And since he played baseball before and he was very good at it he played with his friend that lived in the same block.
I think that this book should be good for kids who are in middle school.
The beginning of the story starts on the day that Pearl Harbor got bombed. The next day when he went to school he was called very mean things since he was Japanese. His father was then taken somewhere with the F.B.I. His family was then takin to a camp called Mirror Lake where he lived for a number of years. His family lived in a thing called a block and at one point each block started a baseball team. And since he played baseball before and he was very good at it he played with his friend that lived in the same block.
I think that this book should be good for kids who are in middle school.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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December 10, 2015The Journal of Ben Uchida, a historical fiction memoir by Barry Denenberg, it's part of the Dear America series. It is told from the perspective of 12 year old Ben Uchida. The story takes place in 1942, during World War II. Ben and his family live in San Francisco California. On December 7th, 1941 Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor. After the bombing, the government decided to put all Japanese-Americans into internment camps because they could be a potential threat to the U.S. Ben and his family are forced to take only what they can carry with them, and they must sell everything else they owned. They are then transported to an internment camp in northern California known as Mirror Lake. This is a great book to start a history unit on WW2 or to recommend to a student that is older for independent reading.
November 3, 2009
After Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Government interned approximately 110,000 persons. Most of the paretns were immigrans from Japan; but the children, since they were born in the US were legally citizens.
That fact did not stop the panicked U. S. Government at that time. They did not just intern men of military age but woment, children and even babies.
The fictional "diary" of this young Japanese-American boy is well written. He describes the hardships of the camps; the anxietiy about his absent father--taken away for interrogation---and his relationship with other young people in the camp.
This is an event in the hostory of World War II that is not as well known as it could be; I would certainly recommend to any teen with a liking for historical fiction.
That fact did not stop the panicked U. S. Government at that time. They did not just intern men of military age but woment, children and even babies.
The fictional "diary" of this young Japanese-American boy is well written. He describes the hardships of the camps; the anxietiy about his absent father--taken away for interrogation---and his relationship with other young people in the camp.
This is an event in the hostory of World War II that is not as well known as it could be; I would certainly recommend to any teen with a liking for historical fiction.
February 11, 2014
I liked this book. when I was young I was an avid reader of this and the Dear America series. This book gives good insight into what life in a Japanese internment camp would have been like for a kid. Plus the factual information at the end is very enlightening. There was a Japanese American platoon that was the first to arrive at the concentration camp in dachau, Germany. It is dumbfounding to think that while these men were liberating the Jews from the camp, their family and friends were interned in a concentration camp not that much different than Dachau. I recommend this book for young people or really anyone who wants to learn about Japanese internment camps.
November 6, 2007
This book is about a boy named Ben Uchida. He and his family live in an internment camp, because of the pearl harbor bombing. The United States government was afraid so they put the Japanese people in interment camps just to be sure nothing else would happen. So now Ben and his other friends try to live their life, even though they are locked up for some time. What I learned from this book is how cautious the United states government was during world war 2. I thought this was a very interesting book.
July 4, 2011
I realize this is a kids' book, but I thought it might still make for an interesting read. That really didn't turn out to be the case, however. I don't think it helps that this is an adult writing a fictional journal of a kid. The kid comes off as being extremely cynical (granted, anyone in the internment camps would have good reason to be cynical) and I really wish what substance there is to the book was presented differently. It also ended rather abruptly, as if the author had gotten tired of writing, or had met his page count quota or something.
March 7, 2013
Historical fiction
Told from the perspective of a 12 year old boy (one of 110,000 Japanese Americans) imprisoned in an "internment camp" during WWII.
Though I have read numerous books on this subject, it still seems difficult to believe that the United States government could justify doing this to American citizens ... and the rest of America went along with it. Why weren't the Germans and Italians also imprisoned? Lots of questions still remain and many lessons to be learned from this.
Told from the perspective of a 12 year old boy (one of 110,000 Japanese Americans) imprisoned in an "internment camp" during WWII.
Though I have read numerous books on this subject, it still seems difficult to believe that the United States government could justify doing this to American citizens ... and the rest of America went along with it. Why weren't the Germans and Italians also imprisoned? Lots of questions still remain and many lessons to be learned from this.
February 17, 2016
I think that the Journal of Ben Uchida was an amazing and interesting book. In this journal, Ben wrote about everything that happened. He told how once pearl harbor occured, everyone viewed all Japanese people in California as an enemy. He about his dad being taken away, get put in the camps, and all that he was put through. I really like this book because its actual information from a person who witnessed everything and wrote about it. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in World War two.
January 9, 2008
This was a good book. It sad hearing about all the Japanese, though. After Pearl Harbor, this kid, along with thousands of other Japanese, are sent to these camps. His dad was taken away from him. They had to sell all their possesions for a small percentage of what they bought them for. They had a horrible, miserable life in the camp. Later, he gets his dad back, but he is never the same. This incident of putting Japanese in camps is regarded as an embarrassment in U.S. history
January 17, 2010
THis book was about a boy named Ben Uchida. ANd his life in a WW2 japenies camp. HIs main internal conflict is being japanese in after pearl harbor. His main external conflict is sharing a tent with another family.
WHile reading this book i made a text-to-world connection. Based on how the Germans treated the Jew's in WW2. THey were both put in concintration camps.
I would give this this book four out of five stars. It had alot to do with WW2. It mentioned war alot.
WHile reading this book i made a text-to-world connection. Based on how the Germans treated the Jew's in WW2. THey were both put in concintration camps.
I would give this this book four out of five stars. It had alot to do with WW2. It mentioned war alot.
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