Love Grows Here
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
After a racist encounter, an Asian American girl decides to fight hate by spreading love.
Aiko learns that Japanese Americans were once put in prison camps in her own country—the US—and that there are still some people who don't like her, for no reason. But Aiko also learns that people respond to acts of kindness.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A Japanese American girl responds to prejudice in this sensitive debut drawn from Ward's childhood. Akio is with her grandmother at the market, shopping for "mouthwatering makizushi, salty but sweet;/ fresh fuji apples, crisp and clean," when she stumbles into a man who mutters, "Go back to your own country." Confused, Akio asks Oba¯, "I was born here. Where would I go back to?" As the two drink a cup of tea at the ramen shop, Oba¯'s friend tells Akio about when "my old home, Japan, began to fight with my new home, America." And upon encountering an implied incidence of anti-Asian hate, Akio works to respond through acts of kindness. Present events are rendered in primary colors, while the past appears in a sepia palette. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. A Japanese glossary and author's note conclude. Ages 4–8.
