Shell Song
Based on a True Family Story
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Based on the author’s true family history, this picture book about Japanese American incarceration in Hawai'i during World War II is a moving tribute to the importance of finding and collecting pieces of hope, big or small, even in the darkest of times.
Grandfather loved music, seashells, and the sound of the ocean in Hawai'i. But when war came, there was no more music. And in this war, there was no kindness for anyone who looked Japanese.
Taken to an island prison, Grandfather passed many long, lonely days away from his family searching for tiny seashells. He collected the shells, labelled them, and saved them with care. His collection has been passed down to his children and grandchildren, and now, author-illustrator Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson tells the story of her grandfather and his shells.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A set of tiny seashells anchors this personal telling of Japanese American incarceration during WWII that's narrated by the protagonist's grandchild. On Dec. 7, 1941, a family enjoys a "bright Sunday, like every other Sunday" at home in Hawai‘i, as "my grandfather" teaches his children the Latin names of the seashells they stack and sort. But warplanes and radio reportage break the quiet: "America and Japan—the two countries of their hearts—are at war." Food shortages, discrimination, and incarceration for the protagonist follow; when the narrator's grandfather isn't laboring at an island prison camp, he searches for shells, tucking the smallest into matchboxes and creating a collection that's eventually passed down to the narrator. Images of the author's grandfather's shells and fabric textures from familial garments anchor airbrush-like illustrations of the family in a simply told, inheritance-focused narrative from Fujimoto-Johnson that's, per an endnote, based on a family story. Ages 4–8.
