Book Bag Blog

Journey To Topaz by Yoshiko Uchida

Wow! What a story?   I think this is probably one of the most powerful WWII books that I have read.  My father served in WWII and he shared some of his stories about the time he spent in France and when he invaded Sicily with General Paton.  My father also drove a tank, served as a medic, but most horrifying, was the time he spent in Germany, on foot and traveling through the woods.  He talked about having to leave behind dead, German soldiers in the freezing cold as they made their way to the their next post.  However,  I never heard the stories of what was happening on the west coast, right here in the United States! 

After doing a bit of research I learned that Uchida knows first hand what that experience was like.   When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt issued an order  which forced all of the Japanese people, both American citizens and non-citizens, that lived on the west coast, to be taken to detention camps. Dwight Uchida, her father,  was arrested, detained, and sent to a prisoner-of- war camp in Missoula, Montana. Uchida and her mother and sister had only ten days to pack all their possessions and vacate the house where they had lived for fifteen years. In May 1942 they were removed to the Tanforan Racetrack Relocation Center, where Uchida received a diploma among the horse stalls that served as temporary barracks for the evacuees.

Eventually, her father was allowed to join his family at Tanforan, and in September 1942 the Uchida family was transferred to the Topaz Relocation Camp in the Utah desert. By June 1943 both Yoshiko and Kay were able to leave the relocation camp.  What an awlful experience!  It’s hard to imagine that could happen here in the United States.  But then, this was before Americans started speaking up for what they believed in, before leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke out against civil injustices, before Americans were brave enough to protest and participate in freedom marches.   It is good for us to realize where our country has come from and be aware of the rights and freedom of individuals in the USA, which is what makes our country so great!

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

I probably shouldn’t spill the beans because this is our next Eagle Readers book club choice.  I have to admit that I had a hard time getting into the book, but as soon as I finished reading it, I ran out to the bookstore to buy the other books Hale has written!  Yes, it was that good!!

This book is about the girls from a small mining town who are required to attend a special academy so they will learn how to become a princess because one of them will soon be chosen by the prince to be his bride. Miri, one of the girls from the village, has always felt she wasn’t as good as her sister because her father would never let her to into the mines like all the other women in the village.  Miri decides this is her opportunity to prove to her father and to the village that she can be of value once she becomes the new princess. 

Lots of suspense, laughter, crying, and a real page turner.  You won’t want to put this one down once you get started.

Gossemer by Lois Lowry

Gossamer is a story about some strange creatures who are in charge of dreams.  Their leader ships them out to different houses and they move in to help create dreams.  First they have to get to know all the little things in the house that are special to the people. Once they get to know all the different, familiar items in the house and learn their way around, they begin to put all of these pieces together to create a story for the owners to dream.  Actually, I’m thinking this is where dreams really do come from.Oh, but, I forgot to mention the evil side!!  Those nightmares!  Nightmares are created by Hordes, who try to mess up all the good dreams by ganging up and creating all the awlful, dark and horrible thoughts.  These nightmares can upset you and make for an angry, unhappy day. 

The story brings together a very sad and unhappy young boy who is taken away from his parents because his father beats him and an old woman who is sad and lonely because her husband has died.  They make for an interesting team and you’ll enjoy reading this book simply because of the mysterious creatures that keep a battle going trying to win over the boys and the old woman’s dreams.  Will the good win out over evil?  Check out Gossamer by Lois Lowry.

News in Children’s Books for January 2008

Brisingr, third in the series by Christopher Paolini will be published September 2008.  Be on the look out for this next book in the Dragon Series. Have you read either Eragon or Eldest?  Word has it that there will midnight parties and book celebrations on Saturday, September 20, 2008 to celebrate Brisingr’s arrival.  Paolini has also decided that this will not end as a trilogy - a fourth book is already in the plans. 

Other great news this week is ALA’s announcement of the award winners for this year. 

 Caldecott 2008 Winner  The Invention of Hugo Cabret: A Novel in Words and Pictures by Brian Selznick

When 12-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized. 

Newbery 2008 Winner 

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices From a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz

A collection of short one-person plays featuring characters, between 10 and 15 years old, who live in or near a 13th-century English manor. 

Coretta Scott King  2008 Winner 

Elijah of Buxton  by Christopher Paul Curtis

Eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first free-born child in Buxton, Canada, which is a haven for slaves fleeing the American South in 1859, uses his wits and skills to try to bring to justice the lying preacher who has stolen money that was to be used to buy a family’s freedom.

Read this blog … post a comment and let me know what you think of this year’s award winners by Friday for a free book.