So Far From the Sea is a gorgeous and brilliant book about the difficult topic of the Manzanar War Relocation Camp.

“Dad says there once was a sign that hung between those wooden planks. Manzanar War Relocation Camp, it once said. Once there was a barbed wire fence, so you couldn’t get in or out of the place without permission. Once there were searchlights on top. The towers are gone now, along with almost everything else.”

The Iwasakis are in Manzanar visiting the burial site of Laura’s grandfather. This is not their first visit. Laura’s family is getting ready to move across the country, and her father fears that it may be their last last time to see his father’s grave and visit the place where he spent three and a half years of his life. 

“Why did they put you and Grandmother and the aunts and uncles here, anyway?” (Thomas) asks.

Dad pulls his head far back in his hood, like a snail going into its shell. “Because Japan attacked the United States,” he says. “It was a terrible thing. Suddenly we were at war. And we were Japanese, living in California. The government thought we might do something to help Japan. So they kept us in these camps.”

This moving story follows the Iwasaki family as they walk through the camp towards Mr. Iwasaki’s burial site. As they make their way, Thomas and Laura talk with their father about his memories of the camp. Every two-page spread that tells of a memory is in compelling black and white illustration. And every time the conversation moves back to the family, the illustration is saturated with vibrant color. The contrast between the pages is delightfully jarring. 

”When they came for us, my father said to me, ‘Koharu! Put on your Cub Scout uniform. That way they will know you are a true American and they will not take you.’ I put it on. But they took me anyway. They took all of us.”

Eve Bunting is a beloved picture book author because of her creative and yet straightforward story-telling. The magic of the book, however, is really the illustration by Chris K. Soentpiet. Soentpiet captures the WWII memories with such brilliance and then contrasts them with the beauty of the 1972 setting. 

This excellent story would be a perfect and gentle introduction to the topic of Japanese internment camps and Manzanar War Relocation Camp in particular for our little ones. While this story is inspired by true events, it is fictional. Baseball Saved Us, however, is a true story and also excellent for this topic.

Here is a link to So Far From The Sea on Biblioguides.