4 poets from WWII US relocation camps, bilingual

Review of Poets Behind Barbed Wire, May 14, 2004
By T. L. (california) - See all my reviews
In this collection of historical poetry we find the voices of interned Japanese Americans of the 1940's. The internees recorded their lives through Tanka poems. The structure of this book begins with introducing how traumatic this event was to the people who experienced it. The history of their lives and the pictures of the poets/authors are introduced in the beginning of the book. The illustrator is an important contributor to this book and its beauty. Each section is carefully laid out in sequential historical order. First we read poems entitled, " The Arrest". These poems describe people first taken into custody. " Hawaii Internment Camps " tells the history of those few that were interned in Hawaii. The next section, " Being Shipped to the Mainland Internment Camps" reveals the agony of these people. The section entitled " Mainland Internment Camps" tells of their terrifying experiences. " Son Dies in Italy" signifies the loss a parent feels when his son dies in World War II. "Death at the Camp" reveals how death was a part of the life at the camps. The last section is appropriately labeled " Homecoming." The humiliation, agony, loneliness and despair experienced by over 110,000 people is put into terms that have emotional intensity via this collection of Tanka poetry. It is a book that is tactfully organized, with poems that say enough to get a picture, but not too much. The complimentary drawings add to the overall beauty of this book. Most children ages 10-12 would appreciate and understand the content.