Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata
I rarely browse books at the library for several reasons. For starters my reading list has seemingly a billion books on it, so I normally have a good idea of what I want to read. I usually have not only my holds maxed out, but my husbands as well and I usually pick up my new books after the Tiny Tots storytime. Now having two little boys in the library, especially one who always runs away (and the fact that I don’t take in my stroller for the baby because then my toddler just wants to push it around and won’t participate in storytime), doesn’t make for a comfortable browsing experience. So we usually pick out the kids books, I get my holds, and it’s all I can do to check out and make is safely back to the car without losing my mind or one of my kids.
So the only books that I can “browse” through quickly are the ones on the display cases. Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata was one of those books, which was funny because I was also holding Kira-Kira (see my review here) in my hand, which I had just picked up from a hold. So I picked this book based off of the cover alone because I didn’t even have time to read the dust jacket before I was off chasing my toddler again. I knew it had to be about Japanese Americans being sent to internment camps during WWII, and luckily, I was right about that. After I finished reading Weedflower I looked at the cover again and thought, strange, not once in this book does Sumiko, the main character, ever wear a kimino. Although the cover was not 100% true to the book, it got the message across enough to have me want to read it. I do think it’s a beautiful cover.
In Weedflower, twelve year old Sumiko, just wants to belong in a town with very little Japanese Americans. She finally is invited to a classmates birthday party and can not stop thinking about how wonderful it’s going to be. Sadly, the classmates mother, who didn’t know there was a Japanese girl in her daughters class turns her away at the door. Sumiko is not only heartbroken, but also humiliated as well.
But she doesn’t have very long to think about it because the very next day Japan bombs Pearl Harbor and her life changes forever. Sumiko and her family are forced to leave their beautiful, colorful and deeply scented flower farm and live in a hot, ugly, wasteland of a place internment camp for the duration of the war. Sumiko and her family must make adjustments, learn how to cope, and survive in their now “unfair” situation. But during this time Sumiko is able to to make a new friend, learns how to work hard and create beauty in her surroundings.
Besides being reminded of how the Japanese Americans were treated during WWII, I especially enjoyed the references to growing gardens. This is the gardener part of me coming out. I’m the type of person who needs lots of color in their life. I can’t stand dreary things. I am also the type of person who needs a lot of living things around me (just visit inside my house where I have about 25+ house plants). And I’m also the type who can see the space around me and visualize what it could look like with some tender loving care. So in these ways I felt like I could relate to Sumiko, who missed her fields of flowers and was sick of seeing nothing but brown nothingness. As a result, she starts a little flower garden that she works on in hopes of winning a gardening competition in her camp. While all the other teenagers were getting into trouble, all the adults joked that they only thing Sumiko cared about was her dirt. Which whenever she talks about trying to improve her “dirt” I had to smile to myself because when taking my Master Gardener class, you never referred to “soil” as “dirt.” Dirt is what gets on your clothes and underneath your fingernails, soil is what you plant in. Dirt was a four letter word that you wouldn’t get caught dead saying.
Anyways, I’ve been rambling on enough. I feel like this review is more about me than the book! I highly recommend Weedflower. I thought it was enjoyable and enlightening while giving the reader some great insight to how Japanese Americans (and Native Americans) were treated during WWII.
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Category: Book Reviews, Fiction, Young Adult
Tags: female author, Fiction, historical fiction, I-L Author, Japanese-American, U-Z Title, war, World War II
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I completely understand. Having a three year old has curtailed my library browsing as well. I have to look up books at home so when I reach the library, march straight to the shelf where they sit, and then steer over to the kddie area before she starts yelling: “I want to go to the KIDS books!”
This sounds like a good one. I’m going to look for it. Thanks for the review.
on March 22nd, 2008 at 1:56 pmNow that both of my kids are grown and gone, I feel a little nostaligic for the chasing kids stage. Just a little. This looks like a good book. I’ll have to check it out.
on March 23rd, 2008 at 9:58 amWell–one of the reasons why I like reading is because I learn about me. Connections always seem to come up, so I think it’s natural for your posts to contain a little of YOU in them! I read Snow Falling on the Cedars a few years back and found I was really ignorant of how the Japanese were treated during WWII. This one sounds interesting.
on March 29th, 2008 at 12:13 pmJeane – I seriously chase my toddler all over the library! Going there is quite the adventure. But he LOVES storytime, we go three times a week! Wouldn’t miss it.
Framed – You can come chase my kids anytime!
Trish – I loved Snow Falling on Cedars when I read it a few years back! Have you seen the movie? I like it equally as well, I thought it was done well and the cinematography is beautiful.
on March 29th, 2008 at 2:45 pmI didn’t thoroughly read through this review, (I don’t like to know much about a book before I read it) but what I did read reminds me of Sandra Dallas’s Tallgrass. I’m going to look into this one. Thanks again.
on April 5th, 2008 at 5:38 amJoy – I am the EXACT same way! I never read reviews for books I think I may be interested in. I scan through it just enough to see if it’s a good one or not. After I’m done, I’ll go back and read it more thoroughly. I hate to know the synopsis of a book or how it ends.
on April 6th, 2008 at 3:39 pmThat’s so funny to hear that you and Joy just skim reviews too. I do the same thing because I don’t want to know too much about the book. That’s why I don’t write very long reviews on my blog because I don’t want to give anything away. Maybe I should go ahead and tell more about my books and let the readers decide how much they want to read. Hmmm. I’ll have to think about that.
on April 22nd, 2008 at 9:06 pmKim – Yeah, I’m one of those people that hate knowing very much about a book. I do a lot of judging of book covers and skim a review just enough to tell if I might like it or not. After I read it though, I do enjoy going back and reading reviews in depth.
on April 22nd, 2008 at 10:46 pmI feel the same way about not reading the reviews ahead of time. When you review a book I go to the end to see if you liked it then I order it at the library. After I read the book I check yout whole review. Thanks for another great recommendation. By the way I have 2 two years old and browsing the library is not an option for me anymore.
on April 24th, 2008 at 7:52 amLaura – Yep, the days of leisurely browsing the library are over for me as well. Thank goodness that bloggers put out a lot of great reviews.
on April 26th, 2008 at 11:28 pmSounds like another good one. I know what you mean, we go to the library 2 times a week and I am almost depressed not to be able to get books:(
on April 27th, 2008 at 5:18 amHey, i just stumbbled upon ur thing.
I have to read Weedflower for school. It was good.
YOU HAVE TO READ TWILIGHT, it is the best book i have ever read, you will not regret it. It is like a chick flick, but scary, and sad and soooooo good!
p.s. I like how you support darfur.
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on September 8th, 2008 at 12:26 amI totally loved this book!!!!!!! When I was reading it I felt sad for Sumiko because she was being treated so badly.
on February 24th, 2009 at 5:33 pm