My Lost Freedom

February 15, 2024
Grades 2-4 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.

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February 15, 2024
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 San 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(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 18, 2024
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.

Starred review from October 18, 2024

Gr 1-4-Takei recounts his childhood experiences in American internment camps during World War II in this powerful and emotional book. Vividly brought to life by Lee's mixed-media illustrations, this work provides a poignant and unflinching look at a painful time in history through the eyes of a child who was four when it started. "We were seen as different from other Americans. This was unfair. We were Americans who had nothing to do with Pearl Harbor. Yet, we were imprisoned behind barbed wire fences," Takei explains in the opening before going on to show a testament of the strength of family and community, particularly in his mother's determination to create a sense of home no matter what the harsh camp environments offered. The narrative masterfully conveys the mixed emotions of life in the camps-feelings of loss, fear, and resilience-as well as the confusing and bittersweet experience, once the war was over, of leaving the camps that had become home. Lee's evocative and expressive scenes capture every emotion with precision and sensitivity. The inclusion of actual family photos and additional historical context at the book's conclusion serves as a powerful reminder that this is a true story, making the narrative all the more compelling. VERDICT A remarkable book suitable for all; it's a valuable and thought-provoking read that provides a unique perspective on a pivotal moment in American history.-Jessica Clark

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