Weedflower

This book is great. Sumiko is a girl that goes through a lot of events in her life. She has two cousins that stay with her, an uncle, aunt, and a grandpa. She gets a birthday party invite from a popular girl in her school. When she goes to the party, she ends up getting uninvited because she was Japanese. She explains how she lost both of her parents from a horrible car crash and that she had some scars from the car crash. Then the Japanese bombed Hawaii (Pearl Harbor) which with that happening caused World War II. The U.S reacted with sending all Japanese to a racetrack to stay there with guards to make sure they aren’t part of the bombing. They stayed at the racetrack for a while and then the government said that they had to leave the racetrack to go to Poston, Arizona at a concentration camp. Sumiko ends up meeting a girl named Sachi. Then she meets a boy named Frank, who became her friend. She also starts a farm with Mr. Moto, who she had also met. Then after a couple of months, Sumiko and her family was allowed to leave the camp to work. Overall, the book was great and was very entertaining to me.

read it for a college class. very easy read, captivating. loved it.

My 10 yr old son loves this book. It is one of the choices for his school's Battle of the Books program. He didn't want to read it at first because it looks like a "girl book," but once he started he couldn't put it down. The package arrived quickly and undamaged.

Loved it. Simply put it is the story of a 12 year old Japanese girl named Sumiko. She lives on a flower farm in California and is relocated to the desert. It brought to life what it would have been like to be hated in your own country and hidden away because people fear you becoming a traitor. Everyday she lives in boredom and dirt where she makes friends with an Indian boy and grows a garden in the desert. I loved her story and I love how simply the writer puts things. Everything is straight forward and uncomplicated. Their fears are brought into life. This is actually the author of the Newbury book Kira-Kira which I hear isn't even as good as this one. All young girls should read this book, and older girls as well. Learn some sympathy for their differences. Being blonde and American makes it harder for me to imagine being the minority especially after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

The author has presented an actual historical account of how Japanese Americans were ill treated during World War II. By using characters such as Sumiko, the reader is taken on a journey through the eyes of an eleven-year old girl whose family was sent to live in a "Relocation Center." We see the pride, humiliation, and courage the Japanese Americans endured. This would be an excellent book to share with upper elementary and middle school students!

This book was a quick read. I enjoyed it It arrived in great condition, as described by seller.

As a youth services librarian I read this book a few years ago. The author Cynthia Kadihata wrote Kira Kira which won the Newbery award. I bought Weedflower this year for my 7th grade 12 yo niece. It takes place after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and 12yo Sumiko and her family are sent to an internment camp in the desert that was actually located on a Mojave reservation. Ironically the tribe’s plight of land taken from them for this camp closely parallels the reasons for the internment camp the Japanese are sent to. Sumiko befriends a Mojave boy about her age. Also she learns to not succumb to boredom and despair by helping to create a desert garden. This is beautifully written and the characters are not only likeable but have substance as well. This historical fiction novel introduces the reader to little known facts about WWII internment camps.

i liked this book because its about a 12 year old Japanese girl who was living in California during World War 2. She was having a tough time because she had japanese descent so she got put in a prison camp she was living with her brother Tak-Tak , grandfather , cousins Bull and Ichiro, Auntie and Uncle. She also had alot of responsibilites to do around the house and to help they gotsent to Poston Arizona, and her dream about owning a garden came true. their favorite little snack is ice. She then goes to school she ,also enjoys working in the garden with her neighbor in the prison camp. and the reason why this book is called weedflower is because they grew flowers , but mostly weedflowers.

I very much recommend Weedflower for any American who does not know much about the racist treatment of Japanese-American citizens during the early part of the 20th century, as well as what they experienced while being interred during WWII. Weedflower is a much better novel than 'kira-kira': it is a shame that 'kira-kira' is the book which won the Newbery Award. Even though I learned some things by reading 'kira-kira,' it is very depressing and slow going. I learned many things from Weedflower, but even though the story is full of hardship it wasn't as dark and depressing, and there was always something new happening to keep a reader's interest.

My daughter did not enjoy this book and she LOVES to read!!!