Place Where Sunflowers Grow by Amy Lee-Tai, Felicia Hoshino (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

Under the harsh summer sun, Mari's art class has begun. But it's hard to think of anything to draw in a place where nothing beautiful grows — especially a place like Topaz, the internment camp where Mari's family and thousands of other Japanese Americans have been sent to live during World War II. Somehow, glimmers of hope begin to surface — in the eyes of a kindly art teacher, in the tender words of Mari's parents, and in the smile of a new friend. Amy Lee-Tai's sensitive prose and Felicia Hoshino's stunning mixed-media images show that hope can survive even the harshest injustice.

Publishers Weekly

Lee-Tai's debut book traces one girl's gradual adaptation to painful circumstances in an internment camp for American citizens of Japanese ancestry during WWII. Mari, the young daughter of a pair of artists, has moved (just over a year ago) from her beloved California home to Topaz, a camp in the Utah desert. As the book opens, she and her mother plant sunflower seeds. Her parents sign her up for classes in the art school they've started, but Mari is too depressed to draw. Her parents are unfailingly kind and understanding. "That happens to me sometimes, too," her father says when Mari tells him about her artist's block. "But I don't give up," he adds. Sure enough, Mari discovers she can keep memory alive by drawing it-and she can grow sunflowers in Utah's sandy soil, too. Hoshino's ink-and-watercolor spreads both provide historical information and convey the story's emotional weight-and do both with grace. In one evocative painting, Mari and her mother wait in line for the latrine while, ahead of them, a pregnant woman puts her hands on her round stomach with a thoughtful expression; "What is to become of my child?" readers can imagine her thinking. One caveat: the inclusion of a Japanese translation on each page widens the book's audience to include Japanese students of English, but also crowds the pages visually. Readers will enjoy watching Mari grow in strength and confidence. Ages 6-up. (July) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature

Flowers do not grow easily in the desert, nor does a young Japanese-American girl who has been uprooted from her home, her friends, and her flower-filled backyard. But with time, patience, and care both will grow tall, strong, and beautiful. Mari and her family have been forcibly removed from their home and incarcerated in an internment camp in the hot, dry desert of Utah. Mari desperately misses her old life, but as time passes, she begins to bloom. Mari finds solace in drawing her memories of home. She makes a friend. She sees that the sunflower seeds she and her mother planted in the sandy, dry soil of the camp have sprouted. And as we learn in the endpapers, these sunflowers flourished just as a young girl's spirit can flourish even in the harshest of circumstances. Mari's story is drawn from the actual experiences of the author's grandmother and mother who were interned in Topaz, Utah, during World War ll. The poignant multimedia illustrations are based in part on the artwork of Hisako Hibi, the author's grandmother. This touching story introduces younger readers to a little known part of American history. The story's text is printed in English as well as Japanese, making this book a must for any elementary school offering a Japanese language immersion curriculum. Recommended.

School Library Journal

Gr 1-4-Lee-Tai based this story on the experiences of her grandparents and her mother, who were interned in Topaz, Utah, during World War II. With quiet understatement, the text focuses on the confusion and sadness young Mari feels after her family's abrupt relocation to the camp. In the harsh desert landscape, she thinks wistfully of her home, where she played with her brother in a yard filled with flowers. Her parents are worried about her silence and listlessness, but an art class offers her a means of expressing her feelings. She makes a friend as well, and when her desert sunflowers put up seedlings, she feels a new sense of hope. The story is told in both English and Japanese, and the earth-toned illustrations, created using watercolors, ink, tissue paper, and acrylic paint, nicely detail the simple plot. Hoshino modeled some of her compositions on those of Hisako Hibi, the author's grandmother and a prominent Japanese-American painter. Other picture books dealing with this topic include Eve Bunting's So Far from the Sea (Clarion, 1998), Yoshiko Uchida's The Bracelet (Philomel, 1993), and Rick Noguchi and Deneen Jenks's Flowers from Mariko (Lee & Low, 2001). Lee-Tai's tale, with its emphasis on the internees' dignity and feelings, offers the gentlest introduction to this tragic episode.-Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

"Spring comes after winter, and flowers bloom again. Peace comes after war." Her father's philosophy is young Mari's hope as she plants a handful of sunflower seeds in the sun-parched, barbed-wire-bound yard of the WWII internment camp at Topaz, Utah. Like thousands of other innocent American citizens, Mari and her family have been forced to leave their home to live in a relocation center; they are determined to preserve their self-respect and some semblance of a normal life. Patience and persistence let Mari find comfort in drawing; drawing lets her find questions and the courage to ask them. With time and care, Mari also finds that her sunflowers have sprouted, despite difficult, drought-blighted beginnings. This gentle metaphor, presented in English and Japanese, germinates from the real-life experiences of the author's family. Hoshino's watercolor-and-mixed-media illustrations are golden, topaz-touched; their palette and composition hint of the classic nursery rhyme art of Jessie Wilcox Smith and others, aptly evoking the era they depict. A satisfying introduction and backmatter, including personal notes from the author and artist, acknowledgments and translation credits, make this a richly informative introduction to a subject little-addressed in works for children. (Picture book. 5-10)

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