Title: Journey to Topaz
Citation:
Uchida, T. (1971). Journey to Topaz. Berkely, CA: Creative Arts Book Company.
Summary:
Eleven year old Yuki’s happy life in southern California is forever disrupted when Japan bombs Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The family if split up when the US government sends all citizens of Japanese decent to internment camps around the country. Yuki’s father is sent to a camp in Montana while Yuki, her mother and brother are sent first to Tanforan Racetrack then to the desert of Utah. The living conditions are miserable, but the family manages to stay together and Yuki makes friends at each camp. Although they never return to California the family is reunited and settles in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Review:
Excerpt taken from:
Yoshiko Uchida (1921-1992). Writers of Multicultural Fiction for Young Adults: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Greenwood Press, 1996. p423-435.….. Somehow, Journey to Topaz (1971) and Journey Home (1978) never betray Uchida's domineering belief in hope as they shape fiction around a bleak episode in America's history. Despite the shameful treatment of the Japanese-Americans during World War II, Uchida's two novels demonstrate a pervasive trust of and loyalty to the American government. The novels hold tenaciously to an eleven-year-old child's perspective as they describe the prisoners' existence: Uchida speaks of inadequately met basic needs of shelter, clothing, and food. She traces the four Sakane family members' evacuation from their beloved, cultivated Berkeley home to the Tanforan Race Track Assembly Center and then to the windy, dusty, incomplete relocation center in the Sevier Desert at Topaz. Father eventually joins them from his location in Montana while older brother Ken answers the army's call to join a special Nisei, second-generation Japanese-American unit. Uchida describes the concentration camp in all its dispiritedness and gloom. Yet, both novels simultaneously depict resilient characters whose constant tie to family and willingness to reach out to others allow them to persist and even to flourish.
Twelve-year-old Yuki makes a lifelong friend in Emi; the neighbors on the other side of the Sakane's barracks share despair and happiness; a community builds itself up, complete with schools, dances, funerals, and weddings. The move home proves nearly as devastating as the journey to Topaz. Once again, the family surrounds itself with good friends, with others in need, and they organize a solid foundation from which to build a future. Uchida does not shy away from showing the historically accurate hate crimes and resistance to the released Japanese; however, she uses the opportunities to bind together further the tight community. Most importantly, Uchida contrasts those who continue to hate with those who start to see individuals beyond appearance. When Ken returns, injured and broken, from his army service, only the Olssens can free him from his emotional pain--they understand because their only son died fighting against Japan. Uchida resists overplaying these moments. She inserts them into the fabric of the fiction, presents them with understated subtlety, and invites the reader to determine their magnitude……
Excerpt taken from:
Yoshiko Uchida (1921-1992). Writers of Multicultural Fiction for Young Adults: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Greenwood Press, 1996. p423-435.Impressions:
Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres to read. Because Journey to Topaz is based on a event that took place on US soil makes it even more appealing. It was interesting that the father in the book was sent to a camp in Missoula, MT just 100 miles from my home. This is not the first book I've read on this topic, but each time I read about the internment of Japanese people I am shocked all over again.
Uchida describes the characters so well that the reader is immediately drawn into the family and gets a glimpse of how Japanese immigrants lived in the US before WWII. The sense of personal pride they and the duty to the US they felt was shown clearly. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in this period of history who would like to know more about the internment camps.
Suggested Use(s):
I came across this activity while looking for a review and liked it so much I just had to share it with everyone.
SIMULATION ACTIVITY
1. Students are given the following homework assignment. "Your family is being evacuated from your home. Pack in a backpack two sets of clothing, favorite toy, book, game, and whatever you can carry. Include your treasured collections and hobbies. Be careful not to lose them. Be ready to share items from your backpack in groups of four.
2. Next day. Backpacks are piled in the center of the room. Each student picks up another student's backpack. Assignment: Look at contents in backpack and make some statements about the person whose treasures you are looking at. 1. What kind of person - girl?, -boy? interests, hobbies? 2. In Reading Log write your conclusions.
3. Return backpack to each student. Students are then divided into groups of four representing a Japanese American family. Head of household is pinned with a card having family name on it and other family members have only the same identification number pinned on them. Instructor does not reveal where they are going to what they will do when they get there.
4. In family groups, students walk around the school yard twice, carrying their backpacks.
1. Students are given the following homework assignment. "Your family is being evacuated from your home. Pack in a backpack two sets of clothing, favorite toy, book, game, and whatever you can carry. Include your treasured collections and hobbies. Be careful not to lose them. Be ready to share items from your backpack in groups of four.
2. Next day. Backpacks are piled in the center of the room. Each student picks up another student's backpack. Assignment: Look at contents in backpack and make some statements about the person whose treasures you are looking at. 1. What kind of person - girl?, -boy? interests, hobbies? 2. In Reading Log write your conclusions.
3. Return backpack to each student. Students are then divided into groups of four representing a Japanese American family. Head of household is pinned with a card having family name on it and other family members have only the same identification number pinned on them. Instructor does not reveal where they are going to what they will do when they get there.
4. In family groups, students walk around the school yard twice, carrying their backpacks.
A. Review the Sakane family's evacuation to enhance realistic role playing.
B. In family groups, student writes down the contents of the backpack, places it into two categories. 1. electrical 2. non-electrical. Of the non-electrical, any books with pictures are listed.
B. In family groups, student writes down the contents of the backpack, places it into two categories. 1. electrical 2. non-electrical. Of the non-electrical, any books with pictures are listed.
5. When family groups return to class, instructor writes down on blackboard, the category of items. Then proceeds to cross off items that may be considered "contraband" such as radios, Walkmans, diaries, language books, books with maps, plastic or toy weapons. Stress that children were not allowed to see most of their class friends or bring their pets to camp.
6. Students write in reading log the evacuation experience. How would you feel, what would you do, who would you miss?
Journey to Topaz, a literature based approach. (1992). Retrieved from http://bss.sfsu.edu/internment/njahs1.html
Additional Information:
Awards: ALA Notable Book
Illustrator: Carrick, Donald
Interest Level: 5-8
Reading Level: 6.9
AR Interest Level: UG
Lexile Measure: 970
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