The Bracelet

Summary of Book

Emi and her family are being sent to a place called an internment camp, where all Japanese-Americans must go. The year is 1942. The United States and Japan are at war. Seven-year-old Emi doesn't want to leave her friends, her school, her house; yet as her mother tells her, they have no choice, because they are Japanese-American. For her mother's sake, Emi doesn't say how unhappy she is. But on the first day of camp, when Emi discovers she has lost her heart bracelet, she can't help wanting to cry. "How will I ever remember my best friend?" she asks herself.

Author Biography

Yoshiko Uchida was born in 1921, in Alameda, California. Her parents immigrated from Japan, settling in America to raise her family. Her father, a business man and her mother instilled the love of reading books and poetry in her. Yoshiko loved America and had no idea she was different from her friends, until elementary school. It was here she realized how much she stood out from her predominantly white classmates. However, she fully realized how separate she was from her country when the bombing of Pearl Harbor occurred. It was at this time her father was sent away to an internment camp under suspicion he was involved with the bombing. Yoshiko’s family went many hardships, but Yoshiko managed to graduate high school in two and a half years, and became a sixteen-year-old freshman at the University of California.

Illustrator Biography

Joanna Yardley was born in Bishop’s Stortford England and moved to the states as a child. She is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and has had the pleasure of working with some of the greats in the industry—Chris Van Allsburg, David Macaulay and Jane Yolen. She has illustrated a number of award-winning children’s books, including “The Bracelet” by Yoshiko Uchida, which was named a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book. Jo and her husband Dale have lived on both coasts and now both borders of this beautiful country. They are raising their son Max in Missoula, Montana, along with their pets—Osa and Serena.