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So Far from the Sea
Laura Iwasaki and her family are paying what may be their last visit to Laura's grandfather's grave. The grave is at Manzanar, where thousands of Americans of Japanese heritage were interned during World War II. Among those rounded up and taken to the internment camp were Laura's father, then a small boy, and his parents. Now Laura says goodbye to Grandfather in her own sp...more
Hardcover, 32 pages
Published
April 20th 1998
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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Eve Bunting’s So Far from the Sea is a picture book for older children that provides a brief lesson on the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII as it gives us a glimpse of the experiences of one family and a hint of the emotional repercussions of the internment experience that are felt in the following generations. In the story, parents and their two children are visiting the site of the Manzanar War Relocation Center. The father’s family was interned in Manzanar during WWII, and his f...more
This is a beautiful picturebook that depicts a very ugly time in our history. Eve Bunting and Chris Soentpiet’s illustrations and prose blend together well in this somber look at the Japanese Internment Camps that were built after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Laura Iwasaki and her family make the journey one last time to the Manzanar Relocation Camp in California to say goodbye to her grandfather who died there in 1943. The reader is transported from the present to the past with Soentpiet’s grac...more
Marfita
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
kids studying WWII.
Shelves:
children-s
Ignore the cover. I hate the cover. The illustrations inside are terrific, though. Soentpiet (pronounced soon-pete) is a genius. The story, by Eve Bunting, follows a Japanese-American family whose parents are revisiting the location of the internment camp where the father had once been ... well, interned. The grandfather is buried there as well. This will be the last time they are able to visit before moving east.
Soentpiet separates the main timeline from the WWII timeline by makin...more
Soentpiet separates the main timeline from the WWII timeline by makin...more
First off, the illustrations in "So Far form the Sea" are one of the nicer ones I've seen. The pictures throughout the story seem realistic, colorful, and overall detailed to give the reader a vivid image in their mind on the events that occurred throughout this story. The book discusses the experience of a family that goes back to visit a war location where the father of the story had lived at. The story discusses about the internment camps back then and how it's presented in this sto...more
Although published in 1998, Bunting's story is set in 1972, inside the ruins of what was once the Manzanar War Relocation Camp for Japanese Americans during World War II. Told in two voices: that of a father reminiscing about the childhood he spent in the camp, and that of his daughter Laura who struggles to understand the hardships endured by her father and thousands of others interned at the camp, Chris K. Soentpiet uses color and black-and-white illustrations to visually separate time period...more
Age of readership: Ages 7-YA
Genre: Picture Book
Diversity: Cultural/General Fiction
Illustrations: oil paintings
My response to the book: Eve Bunting provides a powerful narrative from the perspective of a Japanese family visiting the Manzanar War Relocation camp in the Sierras of California. It hit home and the photos along with the prose made me feel like I was there. Amazing.
I would use this picture and link the narrative experiences from it w...more
Genre: Picture Book
Diversity: Cultural/General Fiction
Illustrations: oil paintings
My response to the book: Eve Bunting provides a powerful narrative from the perspective of a Japanese family visiting the Manzanar War Relocation camp in the Sierras of California. It hit home and the photos along with the prose made me feel like I was there. Amazing.
I would use this picture and link the narrative experiences from it w...more
This book is great for introducing complex historical events, such as the Japanese internment camps of the mid-1900s. The illustrations were detailed and give an accurate depiction of the memorial site dedicated to this event. It has the unique perspective of a family whose grandfather experienced this issue first-hand. It can definitely be integrated with other subjects such as social studies and history – great for middle schoolers!
Heather
rated it
Wow, what a powerful picture book. It's 1972, and Laura Iwasaki and her family go to visit her grandfather's grave at the site of the former Manzanar Relocation Camp one last time before they move to the East Coast. Colorful paintings of the family's visit alternate with black and white ones from Grandfather's time. A moving story, and a good resource to help explain the Japanese Internment to kids.
Sometimes, I wonder if Eve Bunting gets depressed from writing so many depressing books. This book was my introduction to Japanese internment. I have no clue how I made it clear until I was 24 before I learned about this part of history (chalk it up to crappy 20th century history teachers, I suppose). I wish this book wasn't out of print, because I'd love to add it to my classroom library.
A beautiful book for a message but also the craft of writing! Takes us back to when Janpanese were put into internment camps during WWII. It is a good book with historical information and the literacy technique of "back story" telling the story though the father's view from the year's past.
This book explores the personal impacts of World War II on people, which is often left out in text books. This book can be shared with students in a unit on World War II to provide students with a well-rounded understanding of how what happened to the Japanese people.
This is a great book to discuss the devastating aftermath of World War 2, especially how Japanese Americans were treated. It lets us know what happened in the internment camps and how things like this can still affect a family that has to move so many years later.
A sad story that teaches about Japanese internment camps. The pages that tell the history are in black and white while the present day narration is in color. Students could write a reflection of the story from the view point of one of the characters.
A family pays respects to the grave of their relative who died at Manzanar relocation camp. Black & white illustrations contrast with colorful ones representing flashback & present time (1973). Lends itself well to a lesson on flashback & symbolism. Will use in my classroom.
This book does a powerful job of describing the internment camps of WWII with a touching story of a family paying their final respects at their grandfather's grave in the Manzanar Internment camp. It holds great educational value.
the story of a young girl visiting her grandfathers grave a final time before they move too far to visit. she is saddened and upset by the events that took place during world war ii and how her family was moved into detention camps.
This is a good book. It was heart-warming in the way that it talks about WWII from the Japanese perspective. It is about learning how to move on from such a tragedy. This book is intended for 4th graders.
excellent book with excellent pictures. about a japanese family who visits a former internment camp where they were held and remembers life in the camp
I'm not quite sure how I feel about the hopeful feeling of escape at the end of this book about the Japanese Internment. It seems forced.
This was a good book. It is about moving on and not placing blame for the tragic events that occurred during World War II.
A family's visit to a Japanese Relocation Camp, and consequently grandfather's grave. Illustrations switch from present to past; all faces wear the same angry, almost vacant expression. The mood is appropriately serious and somber (as are the illustrations). However I don't believe the emotion of the 7 year old toward the relocation camp; simply too strong for someone so young, even if mom and dad frequently speak of their childhood experiences. It seems forced. Perhaps I haven't met a 7 year ol...more
Excellent story about the Japanese Interment camps located throughout the U.S. during WWII...very emotional and moving.
Loved getting to discuss the topics in this book with kids. Gave a great starting point for some discussions.
A family visits a Japanese relocation camp. A good picture book for older children
Eve Bunting is a master at writing social issue books for a young audience. Beautiful!
great introduction to this topic, such a sad part of american history
Family Album - unit 1
Leveled Books - Advanced
Leveled Books - Advanced
Genre: Picture Book
Reading Level: Fluent
Topics & Themes: historical depiction of Japanese-American relocation camps during WWII
Curricular Use: Intro to a history lesson on WWII
Social: Families can suffer a lot of struggle and hold together
Literary Elements: conflict with others
Text & Pictures: Interactive. Pictures illustrate the hard times Japanese-American families had to go through in the relocation camps during WWII.
Reading Level: Fluent
Topics & Themes: historical depiction of Japanese-American relocation camps during WWII
Curricular Use: Intro to a history lesson on WWII
Social: Families can suffer a lot of struggle and hold together
Literary Elements: conflict with others
Text & Pictures: Interactive. Pictures illustrate the hard times Japanese-American families had to go through in the relocation camps during WWII.
This book is one I would save for older children, in fact I don't know why they have a picture of it. It was nicely done, but the book describes a families visit to the site where their father and grandfather lived in a relocation camp for the japanese after Pearl Harbor. Definitely a good discussion topic, but I think it's a bit heavy for the children you usually find in the picture book section.
This is a great book to use when teaching a social studies lesson through 4th-5th grade students. Illustrations are amazing. The plot jumped around a bit as the parent recollected what is was like to live in the Japanese concentration camp during WWII.
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Eve Bunting is an author with more than 250 books. Her books are diverse in age groups, from picture books to chapter books, and topic, ranging from Thanksgiving to riots in Los Angeles. Eve Bunting has won several awards for her works.
Bunting went to school in Ireland and grew up with storytelling. In Ireland, “There used to be Shanachies… the shanachie was a storyteller who went from...more
More about Eve Bunting...
Bunting went to school in Ireland and grew up with storytelling. In Ireland, “There used to be Shanachies… the shanachie was a storyteller who went from...more
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