Red Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky

Twelve-year-old Tomi Itano, the daughter of Japanese immigrants, is embarrassed and saddened when signs reading “No Japs” suddenly begin to appear around their California town, following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Opening in 1942, Dallas’s novel follows Tomi’s family’s hardships as anti-Japanese prejudice erupts around them, and the FBI arrests her father under false charges of espionage. Tomi, her mother, and her two younger brothers are then removed from their successful strawberry farm, first banished to a horse stable and then to an internment camp in Tallgrass, Colo. (the setting of Dallas’s adult novel Tallgrass). Tomi tries to remain optimistic despite her family’s anger and uncertainty, and her mother takes on an unexpected leadership role as teacher in their newly formed community at the camp; when Tomi’s father returns, bitter after two years of mistreatment, their world is upended once again. Dallas (The Quilt Walk) takes an honest look at a painful chapter in U.S. history, forthrightly depicting the injustices faced by thousands of people of Japanese descent during WWII. Ages 9–up.

Gr 5–8—Tomi is a 12-year-old American citizen of Japanese descent living in California during World War II. Her life is turned upside down after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. “No Japs Allowed” signs hang in shop windows and she is excluded from events as a result of her heritage. Ultimately, Tomi and her family are sent to an internment camp called Tallgrass (based on Amache, an internment camp in Colorado). Tomi does not understand why she should be relocated; she was born in America; she is an American. She has never been to Japan and does not even speak Japanese. Rather than feel defeated, she finds strength in dire circumstances. Tomi makes it her mission to improve the lives of those around her and give them happiness. Dallas makes an important time in American history accessible to middle grade readers with this novel that illuminates a time of discrimination while promoting a message of perseverance and tolerance.—Tiffany Davis, Mount Saint Mary College, Newburgh, NY

Dallas revisits the setting of her best-selling adult novel Tallgrass (2007) in this fictionalized view of U.S. internment camps during WWII. Twelve-year-old Tomi is as American as the strawberries that grow behind her California home, even though both of her parents were born in Japan. When the U.S. declares war against Japan in 1941, she is suddenly perceived as a traitor in her own country. First Pop is taken away. Then Tomi, her mother, and her brother are forced to leave home, assigned to live in a horse stall at a racetrack before moving to an internment camp, Tallgrass, near Ellis, Colorado. At first the camp residents keep their distance from one another. But, like Opal in Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn-Dixie (2000), Tomi begins making peace with her situation through friendships with others. She and her new friend Ruth scheme up ways to create a sense of community in Tallgrass. The result is a realistic portrayal of the internment camps, brightened by the determination of one girl to remain true to her optimistic spirit.