Unbreakable: A Japanese American Family in an American Incarceration Camp

A stone serves as metaphor and motif in this piercing story based around a child’s experience at a WWII-era incarceration camp. In 1941 San Pedro, Calif., Minoru and his father, a produce purveyor, share a love of collecting rocks. But when FBI agents accuse Min’s father of being a spy just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Papa is taken away—handing the boy a smooth gray stone “for strength.” Soon, “all persons of Japanese ancestry” are forced out of their homes, and unsparing narration traces Min’s family’s internment from a horse stall at a race track turned detention center to wooden barracks behind barbed wire in Colorado. In desert tones, Sasaki’s boldly graphic, shape-based illustrations emphasize light and shadow across each step of the family’s journey. Based on Tonai’s years at Amache incarceration center and written in collaboration with Gutiérrez, this resonant account underscores young Min’s plaintive words, “We’ve done nothing wrong, and we’re losing everything.” Creator notes, discussion questions, and more conclude. FBI agents are portrayed with pale skin. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)