When the Emperor Was Divine

written by Julie Otsuka

It's been a while since I've blogged a book. Life has a way of getting in the way of my reading! In any case, toward Christmastime I picked up this book from the library for something to read over the holidays, and I'm just now getting around to blogging it.

It's a very cool, short, high-impact novel about a Japanese-American family that was placed in detainment camps for nearly two year during the 1940s. I love this book because it sheds much light on the experience of the children who became detainees. In fact, I think it would be a great book for middle schoolers or high schoolers, just because it gives such a vivid perspective on what it would've been like to be part of this heartbreaking and shameful period in our country's history. Certainly it's too succinct to provide an in-depth study of the internment camps, but it sure does give a snapshot about this often-forgotten group of World War II victims.