Review: WEEDFLOWER, Module 6, Historical Fiction

Kadohata, Cynthia. 2006. WEEDFLOWER. New York: Atheneum Books. ISBN # 0689865740

After the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, life in America changed drastically for many of its citizens. The Japanese Americans became suspect and were not trusted. Sumiko, a 12-year-old Japanese-American lived through this difficult time in American History. Her family was uprooted from their peaceful flower farm in Southern California and forced to live in a barren relocation camp in the hot and dry Desert of Poston, Arizona. Once in the camp Sumiko realizes that the Japanese Americans are not the only people affected by the war. The camp is built on Native American Land and the camp and its inhabitants are not welcomed by the Native Americans. As the story unfolds it becomes apparent that the free Native Americans are in as desperate of a situation as the imprisoned Japanese. This is a story of two peoples whom were treated with prejudice and terrible unjustness. It is a story of survival and of the underdogs supporting each other. Readers will gain an understanding of this portion of our history as they see and feel life through the eyes of Sumiko. This novel is made more relevant and reliable when the back jacket reveals that the author’s father was an actual survivor of the prison camp at Poston.