Shell Song

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. (Apr.)