Book Description

When Emma sets out to make a cookie family with her Grandma, the happy afternoon suddenly turns sad. The cookies are meant to look like her family, but hers is the only one with licorice hair and eyes. She doesn’t look like the others; does that mean she doesn’t belong?

In gentle text, Deborah Hodge tells the story of one small girl’s adoption: the hopes and prayers of her Canadian parents, their trip to the other side of the world, their meeting with the new baby, and the very long ride home to the new family waiting for Emma

Thousands of baby girls from China have been adopted by North American families. Although this lovely book tells the story of one such little girl, it is about much more than the logistics of adoption. It is about the many ways in which we can come together to form a family. ... Read more

Book Description

Eight original stories give readers a sense of the hardships faced by the first Chinese-Americans. In "Spirits of the Railway," a young man appeases the ghosts of dead railroad workers who were never properly buried. In "Forbidden Fruit," a father's prejudice keeps his daughter from marrying her beloved. Dramatic illustrations accompany the stories. "The brief, pithy tales strikingly reflect traditional Chinese beliefs and customs in New World circumstances. . . . A book not to miss."-- Booklist Starred Review ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A gentle ethnic story of Lin Lin and her father
Joe Chang wonderfully illustrates Madeleine Thien's The Chinese Violin, a gentle ethnic story of Lin Lin and her father, who immigrate to canada from China with a treasured traditional Chinese violin in hand. The violin brings good luck, until one day it's broken. Can they still adjust to life in their new country without it? ... Read more

Book Description

Joy Kogawa is a gifted poet and writer. She is also Nisei, the child of Japanese immigrant parents. OBASAN, her first novel, recovers the truth about what happened to her, her family and her people in Canada during WW II. Winner of the Before Columbus Foundation's 1982 prize, OBASAN reminds us of the indignities and injustice we visited on our loyal Japanese-American citizens.

"This quiet first novel burns in your hand. Rage mellows into sorrow; sorrow illumines love. It is the love you come away with, finally, in OBASAN." (Washington Post) ... Read more

Reviews (45)

Kogawa's Obasan
Obasan is a fictional account of what actions the Canadian government took to control Japanese-Canadians during WWII. Kogawa tells an undeniably historical story about the internment of Japanese-Canadians and its effect on families. She chronicles the journey of a young Japanese-Canadian as she confronts and accepts her past. Kogawa uses a unique point of view, extended metaphors, and official as well as personal documents and letters to tell her story.

Obasan is told through the eyes of Naomi Nakane, a Canadian-born Japanese woman. The story is often hard to understand because it is told from 36-year old Naomi through flashbacks. Throughout her life Naomi has tried hard to forget about her painful past, but her strong-willed Aunt Emily helps her remember. Thus Kogawa starts her use of flashbacks, skipping around the years of Naomi's life often making it hard to piece her life together. Kogawa tells much of Naomi's story from the eyes of a young child, which helps the reader see the internment of Japanese-Canadians more truthfully.

Kogawa also uses extended metaphors throughout her novel. One example is her continual comparison of Japanese-Canadians to birds. The birds in the book are always weak, helpless, and at the mercy of others. By her use of this metaphor, Kogawa is saying that the Japanese-Canadians are controlled by and at the hands of white Canadians. Another more horrific metaphor she uses to portray the same belief is in comparing the treatment of the Japanese in Canada to young Naomi being raped as a child. The rape and molestation of Naomi when she was four-years old permeates the entire book. It illuminates Kogawa's belief that the Japanese-Canadians were being horribly taken advantage of by their own government during and after WWII.

Finally, Kogawa uses official and personal documents to give validity to Obasan. She first uses newspaper clippings and government documents given to Naomi from Aunt Emily. These clippings helped Naomi to leave behind her indifferent attitude to embrace an interested and involved attitude toward the wartime treatment of Japanese-Canadians. However, the most influential factor that changed Naomi's attitude was a letter from her grandmother, who went with Naomi's mother before the war to Japan. Naomi has always been obsessed about finding out what has happened to her mother because she has not had any corrospondance with her for years. However, the letter reveals everything, and it is disclosed that her mother was a victim of the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima, Japan.

Obasan is a beautifully written book that tells the story of a woman coming to terms with a painful and degrading past. It also informs readers of an event that few know happened, but nearly parallels the Holocaust of the Jews in Europe. This book is great for anyone interested in history, the Japanese culture, and the trends that human nature follows in treating other people.

a beautiful and emotional book
Joy Kogawa explained very clearly what happened to the Japanese people in Canada during WW 2. The story was very well, and you could still follow all the things that happened to the people. Everything becomes very clear.
The story is told through the eyes of Naomi Nakane, the main character, who wants to find out what happened to the past, the time when the Japanese people were haunted down. She kind of begins telling the story from when she was 5 and it all started. Her mother had to leave Canada and go to Japan. Until she was an adult, Naomi didn't find out why her mom never came back and why she never got the letters she wrote.
Obasan is Naomi's aunt who practically raised her (since age five). Obasan was always silent and never told Naomi about the past. Naomi gest a package from her other aunt Emily with all kinds of information about what happened in the past. So she finds out all the details.

Lulled me to sleep
We read this book in a senior lit class and I have to say that it lulled me to sleep. The entire book centers around a young woman trying to find out her past. A lovely story, the only problem is that within 300 pages.. nothing to really inticing to the reader happens. Almost every page tells you to fall asleep and give up as the book has no real point until the end. I don't know why someone said it is heart-felt. Maybe I wouldread this book again if I was trying to fall asleep at 2 in the morning and an antihistimine hadn't put me to sleep well enough.

A story from the pages of History
OBASAN by Joy Kogawa

Joy Kogawa uses a blend of techniques in her debut novel, OBASAN, to tell the story of the Japanese Canadians and their years in Canada during and following WWII. The winner of the Books In Canada "First Novel" Award and the winner of the Canadian Authors' "Association Book Of The Year Award", it is told through the eyes of a Japanese Canadian girl, only five years old at the start of WW II. OBASAN is told in flashbacks as Naomi Nakane looks back as an adult, finding out what really happened to her family and their loved ones during this horrible time in history.

Naomi and her brother Stephen were raised for the most part by their uncle and aunt, because their parents were not able to care for them during and after the years following WWII. Naomi's mother leaves for a visit to Japan shortly before Japan enters WWII with the United States, and is never seen or heard from by Naomi or her brother again. The young Naomi recalls letters going unanswered, never knowing whether her mother has ever received these notes or is too busy to even care about her children left in Canada. Their father remains in Canada with them, but becomes ill and is taken away during the war, spending most of his time in hospitals. Their contact with him is intermittent. Uncle Isamu and "Obasan" are asked to take care of the two children in the event anything happens to the Nakanes, and they raise them, not having any children of their own. They become a family unit, and as one reads the book, it is obvious that young Naomi finds nothing too unusual in this setup, as hardships keep them focused on one thing only: survival.

The book starts with Naomi hearing news that her Uncle has passed on, and she is forced to return to the home of Obasan, which brings back a rush of memories that she had preferred to keep suppressed. Told in flashbacks, letters, and poetry, Naomi's story is slowly told. Because she was so young, Naomi herself was not fully aware of what was happening during WWII. All she knew was that their family had to move several times, were restricted to where they could show their faces, and were ostracized and made to suffer because they were Japanese. It didn't matter that she and her brother were born in Canada. Being Japanese had stripped them of all rights that belonged to them as Canadian citizens.

OBASAN is based on the author's own experiences in Canada during WWII, and reading OBASAN I could feel a lot of her anguish coming through the pages. I was very interested in reading about the Japanese Canadians plight during WWII. I myself am Japanese American whose own father and family were sent to the camps in California. I was astonished to read that a similar situation had occurred in Canada, and it was one factor that kept me interested in the book. On the other hand, I did not quite like the way this story was told, and had a hard time getting through the entire book. It was not an easy read. What motivated me to finish the book was because I wanted to find out what happened to Naomi and her family, and what happened to her mother. The mystery to this is not revealed until the very end, and it was a very tragic ending to an altogether tragic book. There is no happy ending, but a lot of unanswered questions, including why such an event could have ever happened in a modern democratic society. Although I couldn't say this was a "Must-read", it is definitely a chapter in history that everyone should be aware of, regardless of race or nationality. This reader gives OBASAN 3.5 stars.

A Page In History Forgotten
Set in rustic Canada during WW2, "Obasan" is a look into the life of Naomi Kakane, a Japanese Canadian torn between her background and a society which was once so fair and inclusive but which has now turned on her and her race due to a world conflict for which they are not responsible and in which they have no say. But since the Japanese attack on Pear Harbor, all Canadian Japanese are lumped in the same category as traitors, therefore outcasts.

"Obasan" is the only fictional account of the historical experience of the Japanese Canadians and the unjust internment they suffered. Published in 1981, the book put the spotlight on several national issues, including racial injustice and discrimination, and may have influenced former Prime Minister Mulroney's guarantee for reformation towards Japanese Canadians in 1984. It was a big step in bringing about some reconciliation and healing of wounds that had been left open and untended for too long.

To begin with, these Japanese were forced to sacrifice many possessions such as property and housing due to lack of trust, as revealed in the letters which Naomi reads in Chapter 14, which detail what the government did to her people. They were shipped on trains, splitting their families apart to extremely small housing where they were forced to live. Eventually they were shipped again to even smaller housing on beet farms, where they would labor, harvesting sugar beets. It was a bleak eistence for those years and an uncertain one, for they no longer had any rights as citizens and didn't know where they'd be tomorrow or the next day. In Chapter 28, Naomi was sent to live at a deserted farmhouse where she had to work the fields with her family, except for her mother, who had left back to Japan to look after her own mother. Her father had died, she later learned, so she was left motherless and fatherless, living with her brother and aunt. The pitiful thing was of course the unfair treatment of these people, but the other tragedy was also that some of them either died or disappeared because of it.

They were outcasts for a long portion of time, not only during the time they were physically transported, but for years after the war when they had no one's trust; derogatory words like "Japs" and "gooks" were used by some people. This created scars that would always remain. To this day, there are still some in the elderly generation who look back on those times with sadness and discomfort.

In this novel, Joy Kogawa creates an intense mental picture of the cruelty and anguish these completely innocent people were put through, simply due to their background and heritage. One certainly can sympathize and almost begin to feel what they must have gone through. Kogawa depicts the story of the Nakanes family well, and provides a well-deserved look at a history forgotten.

David Rehak
author of "A Young Girl's Crimes" ... Read more

Reviews (1)

World War II Injustice
This well researched book describes the confusion and resignation of three generations of the Fukushima family. All the Japanese Canadians living in a fishing village in British Columbia are placed in an internment camp in Vancouver by the Canadian government during World War II. Fourteen-year-old Tadashi tries to understand the injustice of their internment and cannot believe that his hard working father and other Japanese men in the camp could really be spies. This historical fiction educates its readers about an embarrassing period in both American and Canadian history when both countries ill-treated its own citizens during World War II because of their ethnicity. In an afterword, the author shares his experiences in writing this fiction book without changing major facts of history. Though it is a sequel to "War of the Eagles," this book is a story by itself. ... Read more

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A great Canadian novel
A very moving and powerful novel that tells the story of the Mennonites who fled the Soviet Union to escape religious persecution. Although not as highly acclaimed as some of his other works, The Blue Mountains of China is perhaps one of the great Canadian novels. ... Read more

Book Description

It is 1932. The only Chinese boy at his Vancouver school, 18-year-old Kwok-ken Wong is repeatedly stung by the racist remarks hurled his way by both classmates and teachers. Life at home isn't much easier, as his family struggles to make ends meet on a pig farm. Worse, Kwok doesn't get along with his father and is embarrassed by his family's circumstances. Kwok dreams of winning a university soccer scholarship. But he soon finds his way blocked, despite his demonstrated talent for the sport. Eventually, Kwok joins the Chinese community's soccer team and develops a sense of pride in his heritage and people. At the same time, he begins to understand and grow closer to his family, bridging a gap between worlds. Young readers will identify with the boy's struggle to prove himself, transcend adversity, and find a comfortable place in the world. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The Real Deal
The book Breakaway, by Paul Yee, is a exciting, breathtaking book.Yee includes many detailed descriptions of the characters and many visual images.This book takes place during the 1930's in Vancouver, Canada, and is about a Chinese-Canadian boy named Kwok-Ken, who is a talented soccer player.Kwok lives just outside of Chinatown on a farm with his sister Ying, his mother, and his father.This story is about his encounters with prejudice people and how he overcomes them. In one encounter he goes to get on his soccer team's bus and he is kicked off because he is Chinese.Can he overcome this encounter? Find out by reading this enticing book.
One reason I would recommend this book is that once you get into this book you can't stop reading.This is because in almost every chapter there is a cliff-hanger ending that makes you want to find out what happens and you read more.For instance another farmer wishes he had a son that would inherit the land and that maybe Kwok would take it but Kwok doesn't even want his own family's land. Kwok doesn't say that until the next chapter.So then you read on to find out what Kwok says.Another reason why I would recommend this book is that it really shows what the real world is like and what it is like to deal with prejudice.For instance Kwok was born in Canada but his ancestry comes from China so he looks Chinese.People judged him by his looks and not by who he really is.As the old metaphor goes "don't judge a book by its cover."This really hurts Kwok but can he get over the prejudice?
One reason why someone might disagree with my opinion of this book is that Yee describes blood and gore whenever there is a chance.For instance Kwok and a boy in his class get into a fight.Kwok gets punched and starts bleeding unstoppably.However, this is not a good enough reason not to read the book because there are very few parts that deal with gore. Once again I highly recommend this book because it really shows the real world.

Kwok and Chinese-Canadian Soccer
Breakaway is a very complete book, which talks about many different aspects of life. It makes one think about how easy a life we lead. There is enough description so that one is interested but not so much so that one is bored. This book by Paul Yee, intertwines many hard to understand scenarios that American kids of the 21st century cannot always relate to. For a Chinatown boy living in Vancouver during the Depression, life can be rough; Kwok and his family live on a farm where he works all the time. Although his father thinks soccer is a waste of time, it is the only thing Kwok seems to really enjoy and excel at. Yee puts Kwok through a life one could almost call torture. Because of his race, he isn't allowed on a soccer team and people think they can take advantage of him just because he has chines blood. Breakaway brings you into a different world, Kwok's world, where uncertainty is your neighbor and soccer is your life. Kwok has to be always watching out for himself, never really knowing what is going to happen next; for all he knows his mother might run away and never return again. For example Kwok is sitting calmly in the soccer clubs hangout and a bunch of racists throw a large trunk through the window. It really shows a different perspective on life. Another reason I would recommend this book is because it has to do with soccer. Soccer is a very important part of my life, and the Chinese play very sophisticated style of soccer. If you are interested in soccer and different techniques this book will show you how the Chinese soccer players think before, during and after the game. This book is a fun read because it has a whole new side of life to anything from sports to racism. If you are the kind of person who does not like insecurity in a book or does not like offensive actions toward other cultures, this book might not be for you. The tension between Kwok and his father is a good part because it adds a lot to the plot. The offensive action toward the Chinese just shows you how life was for the Chinese and most any other peoples that are not indigenous to Vancouver. Without all of these things the book would have no meaning and Kwok would have a pleasant and boring life, which nobody want to read about. ... Read more

Book Description

With Samson's butterfly kite flat on the ground and her own kite soaring, Sharon thought of shouting, "Okay, Samson Wong, you big-mouth.Let's see you fly your wonderful kite. Big wings will do it every time, right?"

But now that she had her chance to get even with Samson, Sharon didn't feel like fighting.She was happy just watching her kite pull into the clouds. For the first time in her life, Sharon had something Chinese that she was proud of and she was enjoying herself!

Teach Me to Fly, Skyfighter! and Other Stories offers four closely-observed accounts of growing up in contemporary Vancouver's Chinatown, highlighting the joys and frustrations of growing up in two cultures simultaneously. ... Read more

Book Description

These original stories blend folklore and legend with contemporary settings to create a realistic portrayal of the Chinese immigrant experience. From poor villagers seeking to better their lives in the 1850s to families escaping Mao’s Cultural Revolution in the 1970s, these tales describe the resilience of a people in a strange new land. But the tales are also ghost stories, a popular narrative form in China. Wherever the immigrants go, they are reminded of home — the curse of a betrayed friend, the ghost of a faithful spouse, the spirit of a dead parent. In the title story, two friends seek gold in the New World, but the precious metal brings riches to one man and curses to the other. In "Digging Deep," a pampered and fearful young man takes a job in a coal mine to prove his bravery, but at a dreadful price. Taken together, these tales create a New World mythology of 140 years of tumultuous immigrant experience. ... Read more

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Wonderful!
This book is about a girl named Peggy who's dad is a minister. The family moves to a new home in Canada. Peggy goes to school and wants to make friends with the popular people. In order to get them to like her she tells a lie that she has a horse. They're all friends for awhile until one girl finds out the secret.Peggy then makes friends with the Asian man who keeps house of her next door neighbor. It's a great story of how they become friends. ... Read more

Book Description

This story begins at the turn of the nineteenth century in South China where Yenyee and her family live. One night, her fisherman father vanishes in a ferocious storm at sea. But it is not only her father that she suddenly loses that day. Yenyee feels betrayed by the ocean, a friend she has trusted all her life, and betrayed by her family who then send her across the Pacific Ocean to the New World to be a servant.

In this poignant story, two worlds-China and North America-come together. Inspired by the Wing Sang collection at the Vancouver Museum, author Paul Yee takes the reader on a magical voyage of love and forgiveness, of bravery and community. ... Read more

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Ages 3-8 will enjoy this beautiful folk story
Ages 3-8 will enjoy this beautiful folk story, embellished with Grace Lin's warm drawings and capturing the immigrant experience from the eyes of a young Chinese girl whose beloved fisherman father vanishes at sea. Good reading skills will lend appreciation to this story of a girl's growth. ... Read more

Book Description

THE TENTH PUPIL, for readers 8 to 14, is set in a small logging camp on Vancouver Island, Canada, in 1934.Eleven-year-old Trudy Paige enjoys her life in Mellor's Camp.She has a loving family, a shaggy dog, friends, a swimming hole, a fishing stream, books to read, wild animals to lend a touch of danger, and a friend in Vancouver to visit. She especially enjoys school, until the government threatens to close the school because there are only nine children, and ten are legally required if the government is to fund the school.Unexpectedly, Shigi, a Japanese boy, becomes the tenth pupil.Trudy is delighted, but other people in the camp are not pleased, and Trudy discovers a dark side to life.Over the school year, she witnesses several incidents of prejudice against the Japanese, including a frightening riot in Little Tokyo in Vancouver.Trudy is faced with a dilemma: should she succumb to the prejudice in the camp in order to fit in or should she defy them all and continue to be Shigi's friend.This historical novel for young adults offers a taste of logging camp life just at the time when railway logging was giving way to truck logging, and when children were still used to beat out the sparks from locomotives.Horne offers an insightful account of racism in the pre-WW II period, but does so while giving both the Japanese and Euro-Canadian point of view. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent Japanese-Canadian Fantasy!
When twelve-year-old Sayuri Kato and her little brother Keiji enter the root cellar in their new home, they find themselves transported to Living Earth, a magical world in which humans are the storybook creatures, and kappas, shape-shifting foxes, onis, and tanukis are creatures of reality. When Keiji is lost, Sayuri must journey through this myth-inhabited land, and accompanied by her new friends Echo and Machigai she learns important lessons along the way about philosophical and moral balance. The arch-villain of the story is Great Uncle Mischief the fox, who calls himself the Patriarch. He has devoted himself to the acquisition of power, destroying Living Earth and its inhabitants in the process. He is not evil, in an absolute sense, although his actions most certainly are. The strong feminist and ecological themes of this fantasy are worked seemlessly into the excellent writing and storytelling. One of the strongest entries in Coteau's "In the Same Boat" multi-cultural series. ... Read more