More on WWII Picture Books

I have time for only one review this morning. This book is worth more than a quick review, so be sure to take a look at it (the book, that is.) It's one we'll be adding to our library. A huge thanks to Mary, at Our Domestic Church, for recommending this one.

So Far from the Sea by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Chris K. Soentpiet (who also illustrated one of our favorite Christmas reads, Silver Packages,) is a beautiful and deeply moving book about a Japanese-American family in the 1970's. Before moving from California to Boston, they pay a final visit to the site of the Manzanar internment camp where the father and his parents lived during the war and where the children's grandfather is buried.

The book travels back in forth in time, with the help of exquisite watercolor renderings. Using vibrant color for present day scenes and black and white for the flashbacks, Sointpiet plants us squarely in both worlds, helping us to see and feel what life in this prison was like for the little boy, now a man and a father himself.

I don't want to reveal all the details of the plot, but be assured that while it's simple, it will simply wrench your heart. Both the text and the illustrations make this one worth every penny.