UNBREAKABLE: A Loaded and Heartbreaking Account of Japanese Internment

ABRAMS BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS, 2026

 I have a strong interest in and curiosity about history, in large part because of the STORY in hiSTORY. This picture book relates one such compelling and important story, co-authored by a member of the actual family portrayed and told with only slight variation from the way the experience actually unfolded. UNBREAKABLE: A JAPANESE AMERICAN FAMILY IN AN AMERICAN INCARCERATION CAMP is co-authored by Minoru (Min) Tonai and Jolene Gutiérrez, with illustrations by Chris Sasaki. 

It's my sincere hope that the facts surrounding one of this country's most shameful policies and practices is not unknown to any adult readers, and that most young people will have learned about it by the time they reach elementary school. Whether that's the case or not, this makes a significant contribution to the topic and could be a powerful introduction to the history and important discussions.

I've shared a few other picture book accounts of that history HERE, HERE, and HERE. Others, like ALLEN SAY, have devoted their lives to sharing aspects of this history (personal and national) throughout his long and lauded career. As with Holocaust stories, or any survival stories, each account reveals specifics unique to that individual and family, but also contributes to understanding the patterns of their combined experiences, elements that tell an even bigger story. And TRUTHS.  Each story matters, and, combined, they matter even more.

In the case of this story, the co-author MIN was a child when his father was visited at their home in California, accusing him of being a spy. Min and his siblings were born in the United States, but that offered no protection after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Neither did it matter that his families neighbors and friends offered testament to the family's loyalty to their adopted country. Min's father is taken for investigation and kept from them for years, while Min and his family were forced from their home with limited belongings, no answers, and nothing but hope that they would one day see their father again. 

The literary device used in telling this account was that Min's father gave him a small rock before he was taken, a symbol and reminder to tay strong. This narrative choice emerged from the use of rocks throughout the long internment, to beautify the grounds, to establish order in their surroundAs the war wound down, the closure of the camps and return of Min and his family (including his father) to their homes was as unceremonious as was their removal. 

Back matter describes more details, clarifies the facts, and provides a timeline.The lifelong mission of Min to speak in schools and groups about this part of history is well-documented, and although he died (age 94) before the book's release in 2026, his adult children continue his outreach mission . Although the US government acknowledged the illegality and damage of this policy and practice many decades later, young readers today are digital witnesses to patterns that mirror this discriminatory and illegal practice with many of the same arguments used to justify the actions against immigrants. 

Sasaki is an award-winning animator (Pixar) and picture book illustrator whose command of color, light, shadow, and contrast are powerful and well-suited to this stark story. The figures themselves are tenderly sympathetic but firmly linear and strong. Lines throughout felt suggestive of bars and fencing, whether vertical or horizontal. Even the blinds in the windows with their filtered light foreshadow the horizontal barbed wire wrapping the camp. There is rich fodder for discussions of injustice, xenophobia, fear, and abuse of power, but the quiet strength and dignity of the family (and many others) invites empathy and support. The span of time during which people were incarcerated allowed Min to grow from a preteen to a young man, while his parents aged beyond the calendar years. 

Whether this historic era and heartbreaking incarceration is new or a sadly familiar tale, this book deserves a place on your shelves and in your hearts. I hope you'll read it. Reflect, please, how painfully harmful FEAR is, especially when it is the driver of policy. Notice that those who were implementing the investigations and incarcerations are not shown clearly, reminding me of the masked ICE agents in today's assualts on individual rights. Those who have nothing  to be ashamed of in their choices and actions are not afraid to stand and be seen. 

CARTER HIGGINS: A Big Deal in Little Books

If you've never read (or realized that you've read) picture books by CARTER HIGGINS, allow me to introduce you. If you don't click on her name now to learn more about her and her books, please do so once you reach the bottom of the page. I've followed blog posts by Carter for years. Working with books as a librarian was her career and her personal delight, always with an uncanny ability to see in the best of them (in the images especially) the depth of ideas and intricacies of detail and meaning that could be found and shared with young audiences. Nuance and discovery were traits of her book reviews and explorations and I learned a great deal by reading her thoughts.

In time, she was immersed enough in the world of picture books to write her own. In her many  amazing books she has been paired with stellar illustrators who rose to the high bar of her language and concepts. Her books show how thoroughly she absorbed and learned from the best examples of others that she often celebrated in her blog posts. Please explore her website to see examples of her work and confirm them as evidence for my praise. 

CHRONICLE BOOKS, 2022

One particular title is a seemingly small work that is in fact quite complex and rich. BIG AND SMALL AND IN-BETWEEN is written by Carter Higgins and Daniel Miyares. It includes a few complex interactive paper folds and gatefold features, but the words and art merit long pauses and appreciation at each page turn. The concepts of big, small, and in-between represent sections within the book, each followed by multiple spreads of examples. These range from literally-sized references, to emotionally evocative ones (BIG is the donut that your brother has because he got to it before you could!), to imagined ones, challenging ones, and figurative ones.

 Each experience in each grouping combines with simple but evocative language ("a boat below the sky and above the swell" with illustrations that expand the concepts and entice further inspection of the many ways in which things like in-between-ness can be noticed and appreciated. The cover art and end papers invite scrutiny, too, offering rich opportunities for close inspection and discussion of discoveries.

The "concept spreads" offer an enjoyable read-through and discussion of comparative size, value, impact, etc. They also welcome discussions of emotions and reactions. We sometimes describe little ones who struggle for self-regulation as having BIG FEELINGS, and yet, don't we all?  Even the most accommodating child (or adult) likely feels deeply and strongly about many things, but has managed those feelings, wrestling them into levels of expression that won't "make waves". A book like this, one with such gentle and delightful language and color, can be dipped-into a page at a time. It  is a priceless tool for folks to find themselves within. It invites discussion and encouragement, acceptance of BIG FEELINGS even among those who try so hard to deny or suppress them.

Finding a way to describe just "what kind" of a book this is can be a challenge. It is not as literal as a few concept books Carter has created, including her numerous board books and interactive books. This has several of those qualities, including the durable construction and smaller square trim size. But it has even more pages than a typical 32 page picture book, far more than an eight- or sixteen-page board book. The labeled concepts of size are much more ambiguous or internal, still aimed at readers of any age but inviting longer, lingering consideration.

I urge you to spend similar reflections time exploring her website. She offers activities related to her books for those focusing on early language and concept development. In case you didn't click on CARTER HIGGINS above, do it now!

MUD TO THE RESCUE! Nonfiction At Its MUDDIEST!

WEB OF LIFE BOOKS, 2025

Take a "down and dirty" look at a delightful and informative new nonfiction picture book. This is a little book with a jumbo title. It presents a seriously important but basic concept in the subtitle:  MUD TO THE RESCUE: How Animals Use Mud To Thrive and Survive. This recent book is written by Tanya Konerman and illustrated by Melanie Cataldo. The boisterous cover illustration suggests a use of mud that we've likely all clicked on as elephants  rollick and romp in mud. 

It's not all fun and games, as this lyrically written, fact-packed book shares with even the youngest audiences. The illustrations range from lively (as the cover) to sleepy (as in hibernating critters) to lounging, as both elephants and hippos are shown to do in those irresistible reels. The text and images reveal that the function of mud ranges from comical to life-saving, with little splashes of informative facts on most pages: 

"Biting bugs are bothersome... ouch!

A nice layer of mud blocks pests and parasites that itch or make elephants and hippos sick."

Mud's role in animal lives (and survival and reproduction) includes being the essential material for nesting (not only for birds!), for home building, for dietary supplement and digestion, and more. These simply-stated nuggets of animal info are kid-sized, in main text and in the "bonus blotch" insets  offered throughout. Back matter provides a simple two-page spread that names each animal discussed followed by a few sentences describing the ways that mud plays an essential role in the lives each creature.

In our part of the world this is the rainy season and plenty of places are getting more rain than they's like, or worse. Even so, after reading this book I'll be looking at mud puddles with a smile from now on. 

WHO HID THE STARS: HOW LIGHT POLLUTION CHANGES THE WORLD

 I wrote about the lovely and lyrical picture book, LIGHTS OUT, when it released in 2020. I hope you'll take a moment to click on that link and read about this remarkably powerful and gently persuasive book. It takes a creative approach to the animals' struggles when light pollution disrupts countless generations of evolutionary adaptations. I highly recommend that title and think of it often, especially during the two seasonal bird migration periods in Spring and Fall. 

If you are reading this as it posts live, you are smack in the midst of a several-week migration of birds from the southern regions to the north. Some birds travel established migration patterns for hundreds of miles, and others whose flyways cross thousands of miles. Science is studying but still has much to learn regarding how those paths remain so predictably consistent, how birds navigate them. Many are birds who have never traveled those paths. What we can do to learn from them, about how they do it, matters. In the meantime, everyone is certain that most birds include moonlight and starlight (yes, stars are used in some sort of magnetic compass orientation) so that LIGHT, of the natural sort, is essential to their success. 

    

EERDMANS BOOKS for Young Readers, 2026

WHO HID THE STARS: How Light Pollution Changes our World is written by Valentina Gottardi, Macie J. Michno, and illustrated by Danio Miserocchi. The translation by Sylvia Notini is masterful in capturing the complex text with a fluency and clarity that serves the authors well. This is a thorough examination of the impact of light pollution not only on birds but on water life, plant life, insects, communication among members of species, and many light's impacts that we directly observe (road kill, bugs zappers, and more) on a daily basis.

A Kirkus review calls the illustration "razzle-dazzle art", and I concur. The back matter and embedded-in-text suggestions for ways to modify our human activities allow young people not only to change their own habits but to become advocates for protection of the night skies. 

To learn more about light pollution, check out 

DARK SKY INTERNATIONAL.