A moving primary source sheds light on the experience of Japanese
American children imprisoned in a World War II internment camp.
A classroom diary created by Japanese American children paints a vivid
picture of daily life in a so-called internment camp. Mae Yanagi was
eight years old when she started school at Topaz Camp in Utah. She and
her third-grade classmates began keeping an illustrated diary, full of
details about schoolwork, sports, pets, holidays, and health--as
experienced from behind barbed wire. Diary pages, archival photographs,
and narrative nonfiction text convey the harsh changes experienced by
the children, as well as their remarkable resilience.