My lost freedom A Japanese American WWII story

Takei, the actor best known for playing Lieutenant Sulu on the original Star Trek, was four years old when the U.S. declared war on Japan. Like other Japanese Americans on the West Coast, his family was forced to leave their home and live for several years in prison camps. First, armed soldiers escorted them by train to Arkansas. A year later, they were sent to a harsher detention center in Northern California, where they stayed until the war ended. This unusual picture book details the family's hardships, their everyday experiences, and their determination to retain their integrity and help their fellow detainees. Younger children may not grasp the few political elements of the story, such as Takei's parents' refusal to lie on the questionnaires designed to test their loyalty and their willingness to join America's armed forces, but overall, the first-person narrative maintains a child's perspective. Lee's gentle, appealing illustrations portray the family with great warmth. The extensive back matter provides more detailed information. This worthwhile picture book introduces an important topic in American history.

Embracing a child's wide-eyed perspective of historical events, activist and actor Takei details his family's incarceration in Japanese prison camps during WWII. Takei is four years old during the 1941 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, after which "the lives of all Japanese Americans were suddenly and drastically changed." Following President Roosevelt's declaration of war on Japan, a February 1942 presidential order forces the Takeis, along with all other Japanese Americans on the West Coast, from their Los Angeles home. Pages detail the family's time at Arkansas's swampy Camp Rohwer ("a strange and magical place" where the author caught tadpoles in a drainage ditch) and Northern California's Tule Lake, a maximum-security prison with "huge, rumbling tank patrols." Lee's crisp mixed-media illustrations echo the text's childlike tone (when the family is held at a racetrack, Takei "thought it would be fun to sleep where the horsies slept") in portraying individual, familial, and communal experiences throughout a "hard, terrible war." A glossary and pronunciation guide, notes, and photos conclude. Ages 6--9. (Apr.)

Gr 1--4--Solemn music opens and closes Takei's gentle, earnest recall from age four when he was among 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent unjustly imprisoned during World War II. His introduction is initially jaunty: "Hi! I'm George Takei, an 87-year-old actor. Yes, I have lived long and prospered," referencing his evergreen Star Trek fame. His gravely, aging voice turns somber to reveal "memories of when our differences became our devastation." Takei, his parents, and his two younger siblings fell victim to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066. "But we were Americans who had done nothing wrong." Yet the Takei family was herded through three locations: the Santa Anita Racetrack, Camp Rohwer, and Tule Lake. "My childhood behind barbed wire was a mix of both fond and terrifying memories. But through it all, Mama and Daddy always took a stand. They were my solid American heroes." VERDICT With additional preface and afterword enhancements, Takei's inviting audio rendition provides a full experience.

Star Trek actor and activist Takei looks back on a childhood marked by war and injustice, transformed by parental heroes. Takei was 4 years old in 1941, when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Soon after, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, decreeing that Japanese American people be imprisoned in concentration camps. Takei and his parents and younger siblings were forced to leave their home in Los Angeles and live in a series of camps--first at the Santa Anita racetrack and later at Camp Rohwer, Arkansas, and Tule Lake, California. Takei offers an unflinchingly honest, child's-eye view of these events: stalls stinking of horse manure and filled with bugs and germs, sweltering barracks guarded by sentry towers with armed soldiers. Mindful, though, of young readers' sensibilities, he interweaves moments of levity and escape: movie nights, a baseball league, a dog named Blackie, a snowball fight, and more. His parents' courage shines through, too: Mama transforming their dismal surroundings into a home; Daddy serving as manager of their block. Lee's mixed-media illustrations depict children in brightly colored outfits set against backgrounds of earth tones and deep blues to capture readers' attention and underscore the individuality of the imprisoned citizens. Lee also inserts visual details to complement Takei's evocative text. An author's note details the harassment Takei's family experienced as they rebuilt their lives in L.A. A candid yet tender glimpse at a bleak chapter in U.S. history. (glossary and pronunciation guide, photographs) (Picture-book memoir. 4-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.