Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban #bookreview

Title: Paper Wishes
Author: Lois Sepahban
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (BYR)
Published Date: January 5th, 2016
Genre: Historical Fiction, WWII, MG, Children's
Page Count:192
Format: Hardcover           

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
A moving debut novel about a girl whose family is relocated to a Japanese internment camp during World War II--and the dog she has to leave behind.

Ten-year-old Manami did not realize how peaceful her family's life on Bainbridge Island was until the day it all changed. It's 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Manami and her family are Japanese American, which means that the government says they must leave their home by the sea and join other Japanese Americans at a prison camp in the desert. Manami is sad to go, but even worse is that they are going to have to give her dog, Yujiin, to a neighbor to take care of. Manami decides to sneak Yujiin under her coat, but she is caught and forced to abandon him. She is devastated but clings to the hope that somehow Yujiin will find his way to the camp and make her family whole again. It isn't until she finds a way to let go of her guilt that Manami can accept all that has happened to her family. 

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 My Review:

I will fully admit that I know very little about this portion of American History. But I am slowly starting to learn more about it, and with that, I wanted to read it from a child's fictional perspective first. One thing I've learned about middle-grade books that deal with parts of history is how real they feel and how even though all this other bad stuff is going on the children focus on one thing, and go with that through it all. We also see how they react to what their family is doing and how they notice little things about each of their family members during this time as well. 

Manami is a Japanese American who is ten-year-old living and lives on an island with her parents and grandfather while her older siblings are away at school. Life for them is magical to her during the time before Pearl Harbor. She takes walks with her grandfather and dog and goes to school and has friends. 
Everything changes after Pearl Harbor happen she isn't allowed to go to school anymore and the family is forced to relocate to a camp. During this process, Manami loses her best friend and ends up not talking anymore because of this. 
With everyone in the family feeling this loss they try to make the best of what has happened and try to make their new house at the camp a home and to some sort of a normal life despite being forced into this awful situation.

Manami starts school and one of her sibling joins the rest of the family. Life starts to be the 'new normal' and the family has friends in the camp and jobs. Even with the new normal Manami is still not able to talk, but she becomes a type of listener for a lot of people and helps out where she can. 
It isn't until the end of the book that we really see how affected all of the family was and the not so great side of camp life as well. 


Honestly this is one of my favorite children's/middle-grade books that takes place during WWII. Manami is a character that is so realistic and loveable and I just wanted the best for her and for her to feel safe and happy again. This didn't feel like a debut book for me at all and I'm interested to see what other books if any the author will make.