Book Detail

Children of Topaz, The

Publication Information
Author:  Tunnell, Michael & Chilcoat, George Illustrator:  
Title:  Children of Topaz, The Date:  1996
Publisher:  Holiday House City:  New York
ISBN, paperback:  0-8234-1239-3 ISBN, hardback:  

Recommended audience:
ABE/ABLE:   Yes ESOL:  
Family:   Yes Young Adult:  
Picture:  

General Information:
Book Type(s):    nonfiction, diaries and journals, true story

HSE Descriptor(s):    social studies

Summary:
The authors provide an introduction to the history of the Japanese internment camps in the United States during World War II as well as a Reference and Reading List. The book is a journal kept by a third-grade class taught by Anne Yamauchi in such a camp in Topaz, Utah. The children's words and drawings document the daily events during a year of hardships and injustices.

Teaching Ideas:
Although very objective in tone, the book elicits strong emotional responses from the reader that could be captured in response journals and agree-disagree discussions on the role of the American government toward Japanese Americans and racism in general (there were no German American or Italian American camps). The book could be paired with The Diary of Anne Frank and I Never Saw Another Butterfly to explore World War II through writings and drawings of children. Students could search newspapers, magazine archives, and the following web sites: http://www.lib.utah.edu/spec/photo/9066/9066.htm, http://www.umas.edu/history/internment.html, and http://masumihayashi.com/ for additional information. Books by Yoshiko Uchida, Journey to Topaz and Journey Home, explore the same sad territory.

Teaching Strategies:
bullet Agree? Disagree? Why?
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/agree_disagree_why.pdf

Keywords: select any link below for a list of resources which also have that keyword
bullet Education > teachers
bullet Hardships > adversity
bullet History > topic > war > World War II
bullet Social Studies > sociology > social issues > racism
bullet History > topic > war > World War II > concentration/internment camps > Japanese internment camps
bullet Communities > belonging
bullet Communities > new


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