Weedflower
by Cynthia Kadohata

Difficulty: Challenging

A girl, who suffers prejudice because of her race, grows up without friends, and finds herself in an internment camp during World War II. In this multicultural, historical fiction book, entitled Weedflower, Cynthia Kadohata tells the story of a Japanese-American girl whose life is turned upside-down because of World-War II. In Weedflower, 12 year-old Sumiko thinks that her life is separated into two parts - before the bombing of Pearl Harbor and after it. She was raised on a flower farm in California by her aunt and uncle. Her parents died when she was young, so she was left to her aunt and uncle. Sumiko is the only Japanese girl in her class. It was very hard to be different. Then, World-War II started, and since she is Japanese, she was shipped off to an internment camp in Arizona. That is where she finds her first friend, a Mohave boy. She then finds out that the camp is on his tribe’s territory and the Japanese gets all of the luxuries, while the Indians got nothing. This caused some problems.

Sumiko deals with accepting herself for who she is, moving away from her family, and starting a new school. I could relate to her because I had to start a new school too, when my parents moved here. I made friends, so I was happier, and soon, I liked living here. Cynthia Kadohata was born in Chicago in 1956. Her family is Japanese. Cynthia Kadohata also wrote Kira-Kira , which won the Newberry Award. Cynthia Kadohata expresses her dad’s feelings in this book. Her father was held in a Japanese prison camp during World-War II. His experience and all of the other tens of thousands captured inspired her to write Weedflower. If you like action and drama, you should read this book. By Angel

» Home Page of Cynthia Kadohata
» Time for Kids Interview with Cynthia Kadohata

Note: This book is available in our Library.