Ginger Robinson asked Catherine Ryan Hyde:

I just finished your latest and am so proud of you for addressing such sensitive subjects. I didn't even know about the Japanese internment until I was an adult because like you said, "the recording of history is imperfect...the kind that people would just assume leave in the dust and forget". But we shouldn't ever forget. Thank you for all of your wonderful books. ?

Catherine Ryan Hyde Hi Ginger, and thank you. I didn't know until I was an adult, either. If they don't teach us in schools, we're not likely to know. And that's certainly more comfortable, but it's not comfort I'm after when I write. I'd prefer to capture the world as it is. Manzanar is on the 395, a route I used to drive once a year or so to camp and hike in the Eastern Sierras. Even with most of the buildings gone, it's haunting. It's hard not to imagine the experience of being interned, and hard not to write only books that don't include it. It's actually come up twice in my work.

I'm so happy to hear that you have enjoyed my books, and thank you for these thoughts.

flag