Kimiko Murakami: A Japanese-Canadian Pioneer by Haley Healey

This picture book is the story of one Japanese-Canadian's determination to persevere in the face of intolerance and difficult circumstances.

Kimiko was born in a village near Vancouver to a parents who were fishers, then farmers, selling their chickens, fruit and vegetables to hotels. They moved to Salt Spring Island when she was five-years-old. Kimiko grew up and married Katsuyori and had a total of six children. Kimiko and Katsuyori worked on the family farm until the Second World War when things changed.

Under new rules that applied only to Japanese Canadians, all people of Japanese heritage were taken by ship to Vancouver. Kimiko and her family were taken to Hastings Park where they were forced to live in barns that were meant for the animals there. 

During this difficult time, Kimiko remembered the Japanese word, "ganbaru" which means "to push on through hard times and never give up." Kimiko remembered this as her family was sent first to an internment camp in Greenwood, British Columbia and then to a sugar beet farm in Magrath, Alberta.

Life at Magrath was hard as their shack had no electricity, no running water and it was very cold. They were eventually sent to another camp in British Columbia.

When the war ended, Kimiko and her family were told they could go to Japan or live east of the Rocky Mountains. However, she and her family were determined to return to Salt Spring Island. To accomplish this goal, they saved money by opening a restaurant in Cardston, Alberta. Eventually, they were allowed to return to Salt Spring Island.

However, when they returned to Salt Spring Island, they discovered that their land had been sold and that the Japanese cemetery was filled with garbage. They were not treated well either by the residents. In spite of this, Kimiko and her family rebuilt their life, buying new land and returning to farming. Kimiko's children grew up and remembering their own hard times they helped others by donating some of their land for homes for people who were struggling.

Discussion

The focus on this biography of Kimiko Murakami is her determination to remain strong during hard times and not give despite all the obstacles racism placed in her life. 

When her family was forcibly removed from their farm and sent to various internment camps, she kept her hope alive that some day she would be able to return. After enduring terrible conditions during the war, Kimiko and her family rebuilt their lives, literally from the ground up, repurchasing land that was stolen from them. What is even more remarkable is the forgiveness and charity they gave in return for the racism and hatred they experienced! This is evident with the gift of land they gave when others were struggling later on.

Kimiko was born to Kumanosuke and Riyo Okano in 1904 in Stevenson, B.C. The Okano family moved to Salt Spring Island in 1909 but visited Japan in 1911 or 1912. According to the Salt Spring Island Archives, Kumanosuke owned considerable land and was determined to become an integral part of the local community. He encouraged the Japanese to donate to churches, give food to those in need and help fight forest fires on the island. 

Kimiko and her sister spent some years in Japan under the care of their grandmother. Being left in Japan upset Kimiko for the rest of her life. Kimiko returned to Canada in 1919. When she visited Japan in 1925, she married Katsuyori Murakami and they returned to Canada. In 1932 they purchased land on Sharp Road on Salt Spring Island. They worked hard to clear the land and develop a prosperous farm where they grew tomatoes in greenhouses. Their berries and other vegetables and fruits were sold in Vancouver and Victoria. The quality was so high that their berries were served to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth when they visited Victoria in 1939.

After enduring internment in several prison camps for Canadians of Japanese heritage during World War II, Kimiko and her husband eventually saved enough money to return to Salt Spring Island in 1954. Kimiko was not keen to return. Unfortunately, the racial prejudice that Kimiko and her family experienced during the war continued for many years after, as they sought to re-establish their farm on the island. 

The focus of Healey's biography is on Kimiko's perseverance, her determination to continue moving forward despite hardship and ongoing prejudice, even in the post-war years. It was her spirit of ganbaru that helped her through the most difficult times. In this regard, Kimiko is a role model for young readers showing them they can succeed even in the most difficult of circumstances.

Kimiko's story is illustrated with the colourful, digitally rendered artwork of Kimiko Fraser. There is a Historical Timeline of events in Kimiko's life. The inclusion of photographs of Kimiko and her family would have been a wonderful addition to this picture book. Healey's book offers younger readers the opportunity to explore the Japanese internment and the effects of racist policy. It's important to celebrate Canadians like Kimiko, who despite experiencing profound intolerance and racism, worked to make Canada a better country.

Book Details:

Kimiko Murakam: A Japanese-Canadian Pioneer by Haley Healey
Toronto: Heritage House Publishing Co.       2023

All We Left Behind by Danielle R. Graham

Hayden Pierce lives with his parents, and his older sister Rosalyn on Mayne Island, in British Columbia. It is August, 1941, and Hayden has volunteered to help his ma help set up the craft fair rather than work with his dad, fishing. That's because Hayden is smitten with Chidori Setoguchi and plans to ask her on a date. So instead of helping his father and Chidori's uncle Massey who are out fishing on Massey's seine boat,  Hayden has volunteered to help his ma set up the craft tables at the Mayne Island Fall Fair just so he can meet up with Chidori.

Chidori and her brothers, Tosh and Kenji are setting up their vegetables at their permanent wood stand on the fairgrounds. Mr. Setoguchi grows cucumbers and tomatoes in his greenhouses. After watching Hayden talk to Chidori, Rory Bauer and his cousin Fitz taunt him over his attraction to Chidori who is Japanese-Canadian. With tensions rising between Japan and Canada, Canadians of Japanese heritage are increasingly being targeted.

At the fair, Hayden and his friend Joey talk about the ongoing war. Hayden has no interest in signing up on his birthday. But Joey reminds him , "...the Nazis are killing innocent people and stealing power from entire countries..." In the meantime, Hayden goes down to Miner Bay to help his father and Chidori's uncle Massey unload and sell their catch of chinook salmon. Afterwards, Hayden meets Chidori at her house and they row to Georgeson Island in her rowboat. She tells Hayden that she's been accepted to study at the University of British Columbia but that she's not going. She doesn't want to waste her father's money or her time when she's uncertain about what to study, and she believes the war will also change many things. At this time Hayden asks Chidori to go steady with him. She initially accepts but on their way home, another confrontation with the Bauers causes her to withdraw her acceptance, devastating Hayden.

At church on Sunday, Hayden confronts Chidori, but she doesn't know what to do. There are reports that an Member of Parliament wants all Japanese stripped of their Canadian citizenship and returned to Japan. Days later, Hayden's sister, Rose leaves Mayne Island to start her nursing job in Vancouver. Rose is engaged to Earl who is a pilot stationed over in England. Chidori, and her brothers Tosh and Kenji are also at the pier, delivering a shipment of tomatoes to the Princess Mary steamship. Chidori hugs Rose but she and Hayden do not speak. 

The next time Hayden sees Chidori is at a fundraiser for the Red Cross at the Agricultural Hall. Hayden once again confronts Chidori, giving her a gift and begging her to reconsider. She agrees. At their next meeting, Chidori reveals that the dean at the University of British Columbia has written her, asking her to reconsider her decision not to attend and offering her a full scholarship for every year of her degree. However, Chidori tells Hayden that she is going to wait and see what happens with the war.

On the Thursday before Halloween, 1941, Hayden is invited to tea at the Setoguchi home. He and Chidori plan to attend the Halloween dance as Raggedy Ann and Andy. At tea, Tosh jokingly asks Hayden what his intentions are towards Chidori. Hayden tells Mr. Setoguchi that he plans to date her and hopes eventually to court and marry Chidori. But Mr. Setoguchi refuses to give Hayden permission or his blessing. Later that night, Chidori goes missing. Hayden, his father and Chidori's family go looking for her, but it is Hayden who finds her stranded on Georgeson Island.

With the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December, 1941, things turn ugly fast. Uncle Massey is arrested along with Kenji's girlfriend Michiko and her family. Eight days later, Massey's boat along with the boats of the entire Japanese-Canadians are impounded. Chidori tells Hayden that it is likely her family along with all the other Japanese-Canadians will be forced into work camps in the interior of the province. By February, 1942, the Canadian government orders all Japanese Canadians to leave the coastal areas on April 21.

In an attempt to protect Chidori, Hayden asks her to marry him, which she accepts. However on April 21, Chidori, along with her family are evacuated inland. The day only gets worse when a letter from Rose reveals that her fiance, Earl was shot fleeing into the woods after parachuting out of his airplane. With the war now on their doorstep, Hayden wonders if he will ever see Chidori again. But maybe enlisting and working towards ending that war will help shorten their painful separation and bring all those they left behind together once again.

Discussion

All We Left Behind is a poignant, heart-breaking novel about war, racism and forbidden love. The story is told from the point of view of Hayden Pierce, as he struggles to deal with the unraveling of his life, his hopes and dreams, as war overtakes ordinary life. Chidori's point of view is expressed in her journal entries as she too tries to process what is happening to her family, and watches as her dreams of attending school and her marrying Hayden are all disrupted. 

Graham was inspired to write the novel while working on a "psychology master's paper on the intergenerational impact of the internment on Japanese Canadians."  The novel effectively portrays the racism already rampant in Canada against Japanese-Canadians prior to and during the early part of World War II, while also capturing the effects of war on those left behind. 

Graham demonstrates how racist attitudes and fear of those who are different were very prevalent in  early 20th century Canada. The racist attitudes of ordinary people are exemplified by Hayden's mother who believes Chidori is not a suitable woman for her son Hayden to marry simply because she is Japanese. She has no answer to Hayden's challenges and brushes off his arguments as him not understanding the world. 

Graham also shows how these attitudes informed Canadian government actions and policies, which were often illegal. Government officials assumed that anyone of Japanese heritage was a potential traitor, even those who had been born in Canada. This fear often led to irrational policies such confiscating radios and cameras. Chidori, writing in her journal, notes that her research has shown her that "...the Canadian government can't intern Canadian citizens who have been convicted of no crime. It violates the Geneva Convention and is illegal for a country's government to do so. But then I noticed that the newspaper articles have carefully not used the word internment. They call it an evacuation or detainment, presumably to skirt the Geneva Convention." As the war progresses, government actions grow more extreme and harmful. The land and possessions of those families in internment camps is sold off by the government, often at very reduced rates. In the end, the Setoguchi family, like most other Japanese Canadians, lose almost all their possessions. Many never returned to the East Coast and many were never compensated for their possessions.

Hayden's solution to solving the situation with Chidori is to enlist and help bring an end to the war, thus facilitating Chidori and her family's return to Mayne Island. However, when he becomes a prisoner of war, he has to cope with the most horrific conditions and it is only his faith in a future with Chidori that helps him to survive. The three long years in prison, as well as the loss of his beloved sister Rose, leaves Hayden with little hope. Ironically, it is a young Jewish orphan, Marguerite, now living in Chidori's old home, who tells Hayden, "I know your kind of sad. The one that haunts you." that ultimately helps him, encouraging him to find Chidori.

Despite its intensity, All We Left Behind leaves readers with the happy ending they yearn for. This is a novel that is suitable for older teens due to the more mature content. Well-written, All We Left Behind leaves readers with a sense of the immense injustice done to Canadians of Japanese heritage during the Second World War as well as the realities of war.

Book Details:

All We Left Behind by Danielle R. Graham
London, UK: One More Chapter       202
352 pp.

A Year of Borrowed Men by Michelle Barker

A Year of Borrowed Men is based on the experiences of the author's mother during World War II in Germany. At the time, Michelle Barker's mother Gerda, was a young girl. Her father was forced to fight for the Germany army, leaving her mother to care for five children and no one to run the farm. At age thirteen, Gerda's only brother was too young to run the farm. Because many German farms were in this same situation, prisoners of war were sent to the farms to help run them. They were expected to be treated as prisoners of war. However, Gerda's mother believed in treating the prisoners of war kindly. They were well-fed and befriended by her family. The prisoners were housed in the family's barn which was cold and damp.

At the end of the war, Gerda and her mother and sisters were forced to leave their family farm which was located in the German village of Beelkow. The area was taken over by Poland and native Germans were expelled from the land. Gerda's family settled in the village of Ermsleben, in what had become East Germany. Eventually Gerda escaped from East Germany in 1953 and travelled to Canada. Gerda's father and brother did not survive the war.

Discussion

Although A Year of Borrowed Men has received many nominations for awards, some reviewers have taken issue with how Barker has presented the events that her mother Gerda experienced during the war. The main objections regarding the subject matter of the picture book are that it portrays the French prisoners of war as well-fed and happy, Germans as "suffering" and that the story is without much context, that while the events in the story were occurring, Jews, Catholics and those who opposed the Nazis were being exterminated across Europe.

The author's family farm in Germany

It is true that the story is without much context, but this is a picture book for very young children told from the perspective of a young girl. It's theme is primarily that of friendship and how friendship is possible in the worst of circumstances - even during a war as horrific as World War II. During World War II, not all Germans were Nazis - a fact many people are unwilling to recognize -  not all Germans wished for war nor wanted to fight for Germany and many saw fathers, brothers and uncles conscripted into fighting. Ultimately, the author's mother lost her father and brother in a war the family did not support. Not being Jewish does not invalidate their suffering nor their loss. At the end of the story, the family loses their animals, but Barker makes no note of the family having to leave their farm. It isn't even explicitly mentioned in a short note at the back.

 A Year of Borrowed Men is done in the style of the picture books created from the Little House on the Prairie novels with pencil crayon and watercolour illustrations in a soft tone, that convey a somewhat soothing and idyllic setting. The style of illustrations are entirely appropriate for a children's picture book. It does not appear the illustrator was deliberately attempting to portray the French prisoners as well-fed. Instead this was merely her style of illustration.

It's possible a more detailed Author's Note, setting the context for the story may have been helpful,  but unless this book is read by older children, it's not likely to help very young readers whose parents may not want to share such information at this point. Perhaps Gerda's story would have been better told as a piece of historical fiction written for older children where the context of events transpiring outside the world of the family farm could have been treated. Otherwise, treat this as a short story about the possibilities of friendship in the most unlikeliest of circumstances.

The author's website has more information and pictures related to the story in A Year of Borrowed Men.

Book Details:

A Year of Borrowed Men by Michelle Barker
Toronto: Pajama Press      2015

Wait For Me by Caroline Leech

Set in Aberlady, East Lothian Scotland Wait For Me is a tender story about forbidden love during the closing days of World War II.

Almost eighteen-year-old Lorna Anderson lives on Craigielaw farm with her father. Her mother died when Lorna was very young. Since then, Mrs. McMurdough (Mrs. Mack) comes daily to cook, clean and care for the Anderson family.  With her brothers, John Jo and Sandy away at war, Lorna and her father are helped on the farm by Nellie who came two years ago from the Women's Land Arm.

In early February of 1945, a truck bearing German POWs from the Gosford Prisoners of War camp pulls into the farm. One of the prisoners, a tall skinny young man is dropped off to work on the Anderson farm. He is introduced to Lorna who is shocked to see that the left side of his face has been badly burned and scarred. "...from his left temple to his chin across his cheek and down the left side of his throat, the pale skin had been burned away, leaving raw red scarring, tight and shiny. The flesh was puckered into the knotted remnants of an earlobe, and his left eye was stretched out of shape, round elongating to oval."

Lorna races to school to write her exam and can't wait to tell her best friend, Iris Robertson. After the exam Lorna's teacher, Mrs. Murray suggests to Lorna that she should consider university but with the war continuing, Lorna feels she cannot leave her father. After school Lorna tries to convince Iris to reconsider her blossoming romance with William Urquhart, who is the son of the parish minister and Aberlady School's head boy but Iris insists that William is clever and "very moral". Iris believes that Lorna's dislike for her beau is a sign of jealousy.  Lorna tells Iris about the badly disfigured young German soldier who is working on their farm. Iris seems to feel the German soldier deserved his injuries which greatly upsets Lorna.

The next day the German POW arrives back at the farm. After slowly and loudly introducing herself, Lorna is surprised to discover that he speaks English. He tells her his name is Paul Vogel and wishes Lorna a good day. Paul explains to Lorna that his aunt was an English lady who taught him English during his holidays on his uncle's farm. When Lorna tells Paul that people are not happy about Germans working on local farms and that there are Nazis at the camp, he brusquely reminds her that not all Germans are Nazis. Later on Mrs. Mack reminds Lorna that Paul, like all young men, was doing what his country asked of him.

As the days pass Lorna begins to experience increasingly conflicting feelings about Paul. Although she's upset at his presence on the farm, she also watches out for him. With the start of lambing season, Lorna helps her father as Nellie is unable to cope with the birthing. Paul stays in the lambing shed to feed those lambs abandoned by their mothers caring tenderly for them. But after her remark about the Nazis, Paul is curt and distant with Lorna, making her feel upset. Needing more help on the farm. Lorna's father is granted permission to have Paul stay overnight on the farm. They arrange a place for Paul to sleep in the hayloft in the barn and Lorna takes his evening meal to him in the barn.

One evening Paul explains to Lorna about his family. She reminds him of his younger sister Lilli who lives in Desden with his mother. Paul describes the beauty of Desden to Lorna, with its churches, art galleries and many parks. He also tells her how his father, a clockmaker, was forced into the Wehrmacht, the German army in late 1939 and was dead by April of 1940. When he turned sixteen, Paul began to apprentice as a clockmaker, but when he turned eighteen, he too was forced into the Wehrmacht.

As Lorna comes to know Paul, she is faced with the reality that he is a nice man and one whom she could be friends with or even more. But is that even possible in a time of war? And what does that mean for herself and her family? For Lorna, falling in love with an enemy soldier may mean losing all that she holds dear.

Discussion

Wait For Me is a beautifully crafted story about love in the time of war. In her debut novel, Leech deftly weaves her story about a young woman's prejudices and assumptions that are gradually conquered when she encounters the humanity of a German prisoner of war. As her view transforms from mistrust to friendship and finally to love, she struggles with her own inner conflicts and the prejudices of those around her.

The story opens in February of 1945, in what would be the closing months of World War II. Like most British, Lorna views all Germans as the enemy; cruel and dangerous.  The nearby base has been made into a prisoner of war camp housing German POW soldiers who are to work on local farms. When she first sees Paul Vogel, she believes he's sneering at her. "Then his gaze fell to her school uniform and woolen stockings, her milk-and-muck-spattered shoes. The right, undamaged side of his face rose in a sneer. Or was it a smile? No, definitely a sneer."

Although she doesn't trust Paul, when Iris suggests that he may have deserved his terrible wound, Lorna is horrified. "Iris! Just because someone's a German doesn't mean he deserves to be hurt so badly."  Iris suggests that Lorna should be pleased that he's been badly hurt, but Lorna is confused about how she should feel. "Well, yes...no...maybe...I mean, yes, but when you've got a real one standing right in front of you and the damage to his face is so terrible, well, it's ...different. Somehow."

The next day, Lorna notices that Paul seems forlorn and she feels "... almost sorry for him." Looking more closely at Paul, she notices, "...the tug at the right side of his mouth was there again. That same sneer. Except, today, it did look more like he was trying to smile. Tentative, perhaps, but still, it lightened his face..." And when she actually speaks to him, she notices even more, "...the smile was back, drawing Lorna's attention away from the burns. Its curve led her from his mouth up to his eyes, which sparkled." Lorna feels guilty; "Surely noticing an enemy's sparkle was tantamount to treason. She was betraying John Jo and Sandy and Gregor..." 

Lorna is concerned about Paul understanding the sergeant's insults but when she returns Paul's wave minutes later she admonishes herself. "Stop! He shouldn't be this friendly. She couldn't be this friendly. He was a German, after all." Paul's friendly actions don't fit with Lorna's view of Germans who are the enemy. Mrs. Mack tries to explain that Paul is simply doing what his country asked of him in a time of war. Lorna decides, "the prisoner had seemed quite nice, and not particularly threatening...Yes, he was quite nice really. For a German."

One day after Paul mentions his sister,  Lorna's questions lead him to tell her how the war affected his family and life.  Lorna identifies with Paul's situation, recognizing that just as she worries about her brothers, he worries about his mother and sister in Dresden. But as Lorna opens up to Paul about her brothers, once again she experiences intense conflict. "What had she been thinking, trusting this stranger, this enemy, with her precious memories.?" Yet she continues to be drawn to Paul both physically and emotionally. Watching him one morning washing at the water pump she wonders, "Would this Greek god still be here by summer, washing at the pump in the warm sun?"

Observing Paul working on the farm creates curiosity in Lorna. "She found herself wanting to know more about him. And it was strange, the more they'd talked the evening before...the less German he became. Or not less German, exactly, but more like any of the normal boys, the Scottish boys she knew at school. Lorna didn't know what to make of that. He was not like she had expected the enemy to be at all. In fact, she was beginning to realize that he might not be so very different from her."

Lorna's inner conflict is realistically portrayed and her gradual change of heart as she comes to view Paul as a person worth loving is touching and very romantic. Her internal struggle is a complicated one. For example, as their friendship grows, Lorna finds herself becoming more concerned with Paul and how he feels. His scarred faced no longer repulses her as she is able to look beyond his wounds to the person beneath. Lorna feels shame over her initial feelings about Paul suffering from the cold when he first arrived on the farm and shame for labelling him a Nazi. Paul's help when she is caught unexpectedly in a rainstorm, leaves her feeling comfort at his presence and recognizing that Paul is a nice person whom she could be friends with. But when they talk about the war and how Paul came to be injured, Lorna remembers that Paul may have killed Allied soldiers. "Suddenly the doubts crept back in. She must not forget that this man was an enemy soldier, she must not forget he was German, that he had been trained to kill men like her brother and his friends."

 Although Lorna is loyal to Britain she can't make herself hate or treat Paul badly simply because he's German. Her close relationship with Paul helps her to recognize that he doesn't represent the Nazi regime and that like her family, he's been caught in a war not of his own making.  But her struggle is ongoing throughout the novel; she is ready to accuse Paul of stealing her father's watch and she viciously blames him for what happens to John Jo.

Ironically, Lorna's only other interaction with a man who is not a family member is a complete contrast to Paul's actions towards her. While everyone is warning her to be watchful of Paul because he might be a spy, to lock her bedroom door when he stays overnight on the farm, it turns out it is the American soldiers she needs to be wary of. Her date for a dance turns out to be an American soldier whose drunken attempt to rape her, leaves Lorna distraught and afraid. His behaviour is in stark contrast to Paul who is labelled an enemy soldier. Even Nellie's experience with the American soldiers is not a positive one; she becomes pregnant by a soldier who then tells her cannot marry her because he has a wife in Tennessee. 

As Lorna's relationship with Paul becomes known within the community both she and Paul face prejudice and Lorna is ostracized by almost everyone.  Here Leech's character shows her mettle; she stands up to her brother and to the prejudice of the villagers. Her bravery is soon supported by her father and by Mrs. Murphy whose son Gregor was killed. As her family rallies around her, Paul begins to find some acceptance when the war ends.

Leech builds tension throughout the novel beginning with the crisis between Lorna and her brother John Jo who is furious that she is friends with a German soldier, to a confrontation between Lorna's family and the parish minister, culminating in the sudden departure of the Germans from Gosford leaving Lorna believing Paul has gone for good. But Leech closes her story on a hopeful note, as suggested by the novel's title.

Wait For Me really captures the atmosphere of living in rural Scotland during the close of World War II. Life on the farms continued as families worried and waited for word of sons and husbands sent off to fight. Lambing season arrives, people fall in love, life goes on. Interactions with American and Allied soldiers were not always positive. And the arrival of German prisoners of war caused much worry among the local people.  Leech offers a balanced perspective with some characters being open and accepting of Paul, while others are not. John Jo's furious reaction to Lorna's relationship with Paul is realistic (it would be expected a soldier would not be happy with his sister falling in love with an enemy soldier) while Mrs. Mack recognizes Paul as a person who needs healing and compassion. Leech also touches briefly on the bombing of Dresden by Allied forces, demonstrating that in war, terrible deeds are done by both sides.

Wait For Me is another excellent addition to the young adult World War II historical fiction genre. Fans of Dan Smith's My Friend The Enemy will enjoy Caroline Leech's debut novel. Look for more from this author in the coming year.

A February 2015 Atlantic article titled, "Remembering Dresden: 70 years after the firebombing" contains many interesting photographs (Please note some are very graphic). Link: https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/02/remembering-dresden-70-years-after-the-firebombing/385445/

Book Details:

Wait For Me by Caroline Leech
New York: HarperCollins Children's Books   2017
361 pp.