Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 12/01/2021 *Starred Review* Tokuda-Hall recounts the moving story of how her grandparents, Tama and George, fell in love at a Japanese incarceration camp in Idaho. Among the 120,000 Japanese Americans forced into incarceration after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Tama and George managed to find hope amid racism, injustice, and terrible living conditions. While serving as the camp’s librarian, Tama would run into George every day as he returned the “stack of books he’d checked out only the day before.” Over time, Tama and George grew close because of their shared experiences. They fell in love, married, and had a son, even while surrounded by a place “built to make people feel like they weren’t human.” As Tama notes in her journal, “The miracle is in us . . . as long as we believe in change, in beauty, in hope.” The author’s gentle text captures the resilience of human dignity and optimism even during times of immense challenge and adversity. Imamura’s stunning gouache and watercolor illustrations convey both the setting and the emotions of the characters. Artwork in mostly earth tones with select pops of color evokes the time period and tone, while meticulous details, including careful use of light and shadow as well as clear facial features, channel the story’s compelling message. Tokuda-Hall’s author’s note discussing her grandparents, Japanese incarceration camps, and the continuing impact of racism caps off this powerful must-read. - Copyright 2021 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 12/01/2021 Gr 1–4—Based on true events, a gentle story about finding love and hope in a Japanese internment camp. After being relocated to Minidoka, a prison camp in Idaho, Tama takes a job in the camp's library. She loves books and notes that the justice championed in her favorite stories is in stark contrast to her new life of senseless captivity. Enter George. He visits the library every day but never reads a word. He waits patiently for Tama to realize that he loves her. When Tama finally sees what George truly holds "close to his heart," the two are married and soon are a family of three. Tokuda-Hall shares the message that love is a miracle and can grow in the most unlikely of places. She ends the story with her grandmother's own words, "The miracle is in all of us." This lovely, inspiring story unfolds in Imamura's muted art, cushioning the harsh reality of how Japanese Americans were treated during World War II. Young readers may find it hard to relate to the love story of two 20-somethings, finding it easier to connect with this subject matter by reading a story that centers on a child's experience or a beloved sport, as in Yoshiko Uchida's The Bracelet or Marissa Moss's Barbed Wire Baseball. In the back matter, Tokuda-Hall recounts the true story of how her maternal grandmother and grandfather met in an internment camp in the 1940s and writes a stirring and heartbreaking paragraph about how "[h]ate…is an American tradition." VERDICT This story is important but will require book-talking and story time sharing to find the right audience in a picture book format.—Shannon O'Connor, Unami M.S., Chalfont, PA - Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.