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Book Summary

Reviewed byStephanie Dunnewind
Sixth-grader Sumiko's family is uprooted from its California flower farm and forced into an Arizona internment camp when the United States joins World War II. Sumiko slowly finds her way in her new life, creating a garden and befriending a boy from the Mohave reservation. But once she's settled, will her family have to move yet again?

Is It Any Good?

3

In WEEDFLOWER, Newbery Medal-winning author Cynthia Kadohata (Kira-Kira) first seems to offer a sad but familiar story about families forced into internment camps. However, she finds a fresh angle by juxtaposing the prejudice against Japanese-Americans with ongoing discrimination of Native Americans on the reservation "hosting" the camp. Sumiko is surprised to discover, for example, that her new friend Frank's tribe cannot vote; no one on the reservation has electricity or running water.

The reflective story will appeal to girls who appreciate Sumiko's close relationship with her older cousins and younger brother and want to learn more about this dark period in U.S. history.

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