Desert Diary

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Desert Diary: Japanese American Kids Behind Barbed Wire By Michael O. Tunnell. A moving primary source sheds light on the experience of Japanese American children imprisoned in a W orld War II concentration camp. A classroom diary created by JapaneseAmerican children paints a vivid picture of daily life in a so-called “internment camp.” Mae Yanagi was eight years old when she started school at Topaz Camp in Utah. She and her third-grade classmates began keeping an illustrated diary, full of details about schoolwork, sports, pets, holidays, and health–as experienced from behind barbed wire. Diary pages, archival photographs, and narrative nonfiction text convey the harshchanges experienced by the children, as well as their remarkable resilience. Hardbound: 144 pp. Show more