Weedflower

Kadohata, Cynthia. 2006. WEEDFLOWER. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Kadohata takes the reader though an emotional journey as Sumiko, a young Japanese-
American girl living in California, is forced to go to an internment camp after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Sumiko, once thriving by producing beauty on her family’s flower farm, must face life in a dreary desert camp where there is little to brighten her world. After befriending an older gentleman next door, they set out to create a garden outside their barracks that might bring relief to the heat and dust storms that plague the area. After meeting a Frank, a Mohave Indian friend, Sumiko is faced with the knowledge that the Indians do not want the Japanese around either. Will she be able to leave the safety she finds in the internment camp and face the world of mistrust and anger that awaits her? Kadohata writes in a powerful way that brings the emotions of the times to light in a way that the reader can not help but to feel for the unjust treatment of the Japanese-Americans during this time. The reader is drawn into the setting and can almost feel the searing heat of the desert, along with Sumiko. End notes are included with information on the 442nd Regimental Comabat Team, composed mostly of Japanese American’s during World War II, and its accomplishments.