LESSON PLANS AND CURRICULUM GUIDES

LIBRARIAN REVIEW:

In 1942, over 22,000 Japanese Canadians were forced to relocate, losing their homes, possessions and dreams in the name of National Security. Families were separated; communities lost. On Being Yukiko, a collaboration by artists and writers, Jeff Chiba Stearns and Lillian Michiko Blakey, tackles this dark and little known side of Canadian history in the format of a graphic novel.

 

The strength of this book, beyond the unique synthesis of artistic styles, is in how one family’s narrative, told with honesty and love, is the story of so many children who have similar questions about identity, culture, intersectionality and their place in Canadian society.

 

Storytelling as narrative history is transformative in understanding identity. On Being Yukiko is a beautiful rendition of one family’s history passed on by grandmother to granddaughter. But by extending the discussion of identity to mixed race children from many different backgrounds, Chiba Stearns and Michiko Blakey have created a book that parents, teachers and librarians will be recommending and discussing – and most important, a book that children will enjoy reading.

 

Highly recommended for middle school students.

 

Reccia Mandelcorn

Aurora Public Library