I could not believe there were one-star reviews until I read them and saw they were written by kids. Obviously part of their 8th grade class assignment was to write a review of the book for Amazon.com. This book is really not for junior-high level kids, as they will find it boring. And unless they are familiar with Asian-American culture or know somebody who is Asian-American, it will be difficult for them to relate to this book at all. One kid reviewer said the book might have been better if there was violence! Those kids would have been better off watching the Made-For-TV movie that was based on the book.

It is of great interest to those wanting to learn about this shameful part of American history, and for those wanting to learn about Asian American history. As a mother of a half-Asian son, this will definitely be a book he needs to read. I applaud Jean Wakasuki-Houston for writing this book, and to me, it rates up there as a must-read with "The Diary of Anne Frank." Both are important testimonies to the horrors and racism of WWII, and hopefully future generations can learn from them.

my 14 year old daughter, who is a reading fanatic, had to read this book for english over the summer. she said the book was well written but was not entertaining.

Farewell to Manzanar is the autobiography of Jeanne Wakatsuki, who was seven years old in 1942, when the U.S. government forced Japanese-American families from their homes, and relocated them to internment camps. She tells the story of life at the Manzanar camp, as well as her family's difficulty in resuming a normal life after the camp closed, including her personal struggle to fit in with white kids at school.

Just prior to the internment, Jeanne's father was arrested in Los Angeles County and taken to North Dakota. He was a fisherman, and they charged him with delivering oil to Japanese submarines. During interrogation, he explained that the 50-gallon drums on his boat contained bait, not oil. His interrogator asked, "Who do you want to win this war?" He answered, "When your mother and your father are having a fight, do you want them to kill each other? Or do you want them to stop fighting?"

One amusing part of the story is about how the camp residents entertained themselves. "He didn't sing Don't Fence Me In out of protest... It just happened to be a hit song."

Woven into the story are historically significant facts. Ironically, while being held captive as a threat to the country, second-generation Japanese-American men were drafted into the Army. Many accepted the call, and others even volunteered prior to being drafted. However, some fought in court, and a judge in San Francisco ruled in their favor. In a separate case, the Supreme Court ruled in December of 1944 that the government cannot detain loyal citizens against their will. Within the next year, the camps were closed.

This part of American history has been swept under the rug. 110,000 Japanese-Americans were relocated to 10 inland camps. Wakatsuki documents her experience in the form of a relatable, human story.

Farewell to Manzanar is not a book I will ever forget. Although many years have passed since I first read this book, the story of the Japanese-American families sent to an internment camp still resonates. It's a beautifully written memoir of an egregious wrong.

Wow! This is everything I thought it would be and much more! Everything I could think of for my students is in this, plus things I didn't even think would be in it! Thank you!

This book is required reading for my daughters freshman high school English course. Amazon didnt carry the 'cliffnotes' yet I found another seller through Amazon; of course, then the books were shipped separately.

Excellent topic considering our local Japanese-American history during WWII.

and my children like it. It is a great book to read with your children on one of the internment camps during wwII in America. The first person account is wonderful. I don't know why so many kids thought it was boring. No, there are no bombs going off, a lot of gun shooting, or killing with blood and guts but it is still a great book.

i read this book when i was about 11 and purchased it for my 12 yr old son last month. he loved it as much as i did. loves to read, loves world war ii history and had no idea that the u s had holding camps for u s citizens of japanese descent. started a diolog with his g'pa, s f born and bred, about japanese americans he'd known as a child who were imprisoned. should be required reading for all

This is the greatest film depicting life in the Manzanar camp in the California desert. It should teach us all about prejudice and where it brings us.

Farewell to Manzanar is a novel about a girl and her family going into an internment camp after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
This book is very well written. It explains the struggles that many Japanese people went through during World War Two and Pearl Harbor during the early 1940s. This books states how it was like to be Japanese inside an interment camp and the uncertainty of what was going to happen the next day. This book is based on one main thing, oppression. It is a novel based on oppression because there is negative power being used by the government for only one specific social group or race, which in this case are Japanese people. The main characters in this book are the father who is taken away from his family by the government and his family, who is not sure when he is coming back. The mother is a strong, independent woman during the novel and Kiyo, who is the little brother, is always trying to make someone laugh. Finally there is Martha, who is the girl telling the family's story.

Overall, I think this is a good book to read because you get to see what Japanese Americans' experiences were like in internments camps and what it felt like to not know what was going on or coming next. -by Carlos

Martha remembers lots of things, but this one she will never forget. She remembers it was December and there had to be about 20-25 boats bombed in Pearl Harbor. Her dad is taken away from her house, because the U.S wants to get information from all Japanese Americans to check and see if they are responsible for Pearl Harbor.

In my opinion, this girl suffered more than anyone I know, because she loses everything. She loses her dad, her family, and also her house. There is nothing left for her. I've never seen my dad, but I would hate to have seen him then lose him. Her family is taken to Manzanar, a Japanese internment camp. She is with them, but not living the way she wants to. She is with her brother and mother in the camp. She loses her house, because the U.S thinks she is potentially responsible for Pearl Harbor, or has something to do with it. Overall, I think this book is very good because it gives you very good details on how a little girl experiences a traumatic event at a young age. -by Chavez

A Farewell to Manzanar is a very well written book. It is about a little Japanese girl and what her family had to go through during three years in the Japanese interment camp, Manzanar. There are things she loses like her dad, her house, and her personal belongings. While she is in the interment camp, she goes to school. She has to get permission from parents to spend time with their children while in the camp. Her dad gets taken because the FBI finds evidence that the father has been giving Japan fuel and oil. They are wrong, but just like that, take him away.

Its really interesting reading what the little Japanese girl has to go through in the interment camp. She stands strong even though her dad is taken away. Even though she suffers, she still keeps on strong. It's a good example that even though things might seem hard, there is always a solution for everything. -by Elsie

Jeanne is only seven years old and living in California when Pearl Harbor is attacked. Her parents were from Japan but had been living in the United States for most of their lives. Jeanne and her eight older siblings had all been born in this country and raised as English-speaking Americans. Jeanne's father is now a fisherman who owns two of his own fishing boats. Their family is moderately successful.

All of their success and security ends when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. All of a sudden, people begin looking at Japanes Americans, who are not allowed to become citizens, as the enemy. The American government is terrified that people of Japanese background will pass secrets to the Japanese who are attacking us, so the government takes rights away from anyone who has Japanese blood.

Jeanne's family is considered a particular danger, because they live on the west coast and they fish. They are no longer allowed to fish. Their boats are confiscated. They are then sent to Manzanar, a relocation camp further inland, where thousands of Japanese Americans are sent to live in a fenced-in area until the war is over.

When they first arrive at Manzanar, things are pretty bad. The barracks have been hastily constructed and do not do much to keep out the cold or the dust swirling all around. They are not large enough for families to live comfortably. The food that is served is almost inedible, because the people planning the meals have no concept of what Japanese people eat. Worst of all, though, is the knowledge of the people living there that their government doesn't trust them.

Jeanne and her family are forced to live at this camp for years. This book is an honest look at what the camp was like and what effect it had on Jeanne's family to be stationed there.

I liked that Jeanne doesn't portray her family as perfect. They have as many problems as any other family, and her father is especially flawed. Before I read this book I didn't know much about the Japanese camps, so it was interesting for me to get to know a whole new aspect of the war that isn't discussed as much as the things happening overseas.

This was one person's story, which is both a strength and a weakness. It offers a first-hand account of day to day life, but it lacks in well-rounded historical information. I would like to have know what the government's reasoning was, and how the authorities justified keeping these people locked up for so long.

FAREWELL TO MANZANAR is the chilling autobiography of a Japanese-American girl who survived the interment camps during World War II.

When I began reading this book I had no idea what the "interment" camps were. This is a subject that not many know about and is not a very well-known time in history. "Internment" camps were camps that the American government put together after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor to house all of the Japanese-Americans who lived on the west coast. The people were forced to go and didn't have a choice, even if they were born in America and only had Japanese ancestry. The camps were in the middle of the desert, so that the people wouldn't be able to leave.

At first I didn't like the book very much. But as I kept reading I began to like it. I can't say that I loved it, because I didn't; it's not a "loving" type of story. I enjoyed learning about something that I knew nothing about.

I think all Americans should read this book so that they know that this happened. It is not something that is often talked about, but it should be, so that every American citizen knows about this part that the government played in World War II.

Reviewed by: Taylor Rector

A great read for a junior high student, this book lacks the extra punch that would make it a great novel. Retelling the story of Japanese internment during World War II through the eyes of a Japanese schoolgirl, this novel deals with the shame and guilt of being Japanese during a time of great hostility and racism. Yet, this is more a book of the human will to adapt and conform. Even though they are unjustifiably interned, the families at Manzanar manage to cope and live their lives in the best way they know how.

Although this is a compelling story, it seems to barely skim the surface of the intense emotions and self-loathing present in the internees. For an adult reader, this book may be too simplistic and not "deep" enough, for it lacks rich details. Although it is a pleasure to read and I certainly empathized with their trials and tribulations, the text never truly drew me in and made me feel their great anguish and suffering. But, I suppose Houston was targeting the book to a more juvenile crowd.

As I rarely read autobiographies, I may judging this book too harshly. This is an easy and worthwhile book to read. And it is a true story.

2000+ American Sailors, Soldiers, and Marines (MILITARY PERSONNEL) died during the Japanese Air Attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, and as a direct result, President Roosevelt issued Presidential Executive Order 9066, forcing 110,000+ Japanese-Americans into 10 Military Internment Camps (Concentration Camps -- complete with Armed Soldiers, Machine Guns, Barbed Wire Fences, Spotlights, and Guard Towers). Each person subject to EO-9066 could only take what they could carry with their own two hands (and nothing more), leaving eveything else behind. Oh yes, the Federal Government also froze ALL BANK ACCOUNTS of Japanese-Americans through to the end of the war, so they could not get any cash out of the bank nor pay any bills. As a direct result, Japanese-Americans lost her homes due to nonpayment of Property Taxes. In Jeanne's Dad's case, someone stole their fishing boat while they were incarcerated. Her dad was a fisherman, and the boat had been the primary means of support for their family.

What can only be described as a horrible nightmare began to unfold on that Sunday morning at Terminal Island in Los Angeles, and the story of what happened to Jeanne and her family after that is told to us through the eyes of a 7-year old Japanese-American girl... from confusion, to disbelief, to fear, then anger, and finally resignation to their fate. After WWII ends, they are released, and we get to see how they handled recovery and resuming their lives again, each in their own way.

It is a very compelling and true story, and I recommend this book to anyone who would like to know just how it was to have to experience the Japanese-American WWII Internment by someone who did.

This story delves into the culture of the Japanese and applies it to their life in the Manzanar interment camps during World War II. An insightful must-read.

No offense to the author or anything but this book was really boring!!! It just doesn't seem to stick with one situation. Jeanne's family leaves there home, goes to Manzanar, then kicked out of Manzanar, etc. It was just really boring and I was going to be put to sleep, this book couldn't keep my attention on it for long.

It is very interesting for me, as I have heard about it, but being of Japanese ancestry, while growing up, everyone did not talk about it, it was a hush-hush subject.
And unless your family was involved you wouldn't know.
It is very interesting history for all to read. Thank you

to you 3 8th graders. You don't even know what a good book is. This is a true story of people who suffered in these camps. It is not boring just because you don't feel sorry for them doesn't mean it's a bad book.

This is an excellent book for learning about the Japanese Internment. It was reccomended to me by my English teacher, and she was right about how well everything is described. I reccomend this book to anyone who wants to learn about the Japanese Internment.

this book is very boring and we could barely finish it because we were falling asleep. it is soo pointless and not worth reading.it had nothing to do with survival.
-3 8th grade students. (that are 12, we got moved up.

I believed that Farewell to Manzanar was an interesting book. It describes the situation of what the people had to live through during this time period after WWII. It's is also very interesting that the author ends the book, with the character writing the book. Since it was a biography, I can see why, however it is interesting, and it is not seen often in books. There are some parts that are confusing such as between the chapters, and between settings. The book has a variety of setting changes, from Pearl Harbor to Manzanar to Santa Clara. There is also interview of the one of the characters, Ko, by a U.S. Governmental Personal. I found the book interesting, and the book is written by a actual person that stayed at the interment camps - Posted by P Tran of Kearny High School(SCT division)

...is simply that judgements are being passed upon the American government's PAST actions based upon CURRENT perspectives and ethics.

The very title of the book discusses Jeanne's family as "Japanese American." Guess what? They were NOT Americans because laws had been passed earlier making it illegal for Japanese and Chinese people to attain American citizenship. Unfortunately Chinese and Japanese descendants born in the U.S.A WERE NOT American citizens.

The U.S. government was hampered by its past mistakes. They had large pocket populations of ethnically different non-Americans living throughout the country. There was fear of terrorism, there was fear of hate crimes.

The internment camp solution was NOT a great solution; it was the best choice of several fairly rotten choices the government had to choose from.

I would encourage Ms. Houston and persons like her to research the treatment many White/European/American nationals have received when they found themselves detained by Japanese troops and decide who got the most ethical treatment. How many European/White Americans opted to remain in the country of their imprisonment, participate in said country's customs, and marry into the dominant race/culture?

I am not minimizing the unfairness of what became of the Asia populations born and living in the United States during World War II any more than I would minimize the unfair treatment Americans have received in foreign countries during crisis periods. However, I do believe it's fair to say that the United States made every effort it could to offer detainees reasonable comfort.

In her memoirs, Ms. Houston complains about being served sweet fruit and sauce with her rice. In Japan and in the Pacific Islands many prisoners found themselves with no rations at all. She also complains about a ballerina hired (or a volunteer) to teach the children dancing at the camp. How many prisoners of war receive ballet lessons?

Ms. Houston certainly could have left the country which treated her so badly. By her own admission she had family still living in Japan. Instead she chose to remain and rebuild her life and date and marry a White American over her family's objections.

This does not sound like a traumatized brutalized and unhappy person to me.

I don't expect the average person to approve of this review because it is so non-politically correct and goes against the current "White guilt" trends the media is so desperate to promote.

The bottom line is, like the unprovoked attack upon Pearl Harbor, horrible things happen in wars.

I give the book 4 stars for many reasons. The book is very truthful. The narrator doesn't give Jeannie a grim outlook on the world, but it also doesn't sugar-coat the story to make it kid friendly.
I also like how the narrator uses sympathy for characters. One moment you want to cry for someone's misfortunes and the next moment want to beat them up for their bad judgement. I sure felt that way for the dad.
On the other hand, the book sometimes is supersaturated, or expands on moments more than it should. Sometimes I just want the author to move on to a new subject. That can be very annoying.
In sum, I think it's a good book for anybody who wants to know the truth about California history.

Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston is a powerful, touching, and amazing story about a Japanese-American family who is taken away to Manzanar internment camp in Owens Valley, California. She writes in a manner that shows her, her family's, and her entire race's hardships through the point of view of her young self.
The story starts out with the attack on Pearl Harbor, which leads to the taking of her father to an interment camp in North Dakota. Ms. Houston's family then must adapt to a way of life without her father. But just when her family has settled in with the new way of life, a notice goes up that all Japanese are being evacuated to internment camps.
Jeanne then writes about what the barracks were like when the Japanese first arrived in Manzanar and about her family's first freezing night on the cold, steel army cots. Ms. Houston shows the way the Japanese make Manzanar their home instead of a prison, how her father is returned to his family, how a school is set up, and how she learns to twirl a baton.
Then, just when Manzanar was feeling almost like home, WWII ends and Manzanar closes down. Ms. Houston writes about how frustrating this was for most Japanese-Americans, being forced to leave their homes, then being forced again to leave their new ones.
Finally, to close the book, Ms. Houston writes about her life after Manzanar; finding a friend in a young girl she meets in school and becoming the Carnival Queen in high school. Later she visits the site of Manzanar with her husband and children.
Farewell to Manzanar is a beautifully written story that should be read and cherished by everyone, both children and adults. Showing both good and bad equally, it is an educational, changing, and entertaining read.

Nueva W.R.

Jeanne Wakatsuki is dropped into reality as the Second World War causes her family to be sent to Manzanar, an internment camp located right near Owens Valley. The internment camp pulls her family apart, and the rages of her father don't seem to help the wounds that her family has suffered. Everything turns upside down as her father turns into an alcoholic, and America drops the bomb. Her dad won't let her do anything she wants, and least not now. Between the crazy bathrooms and the rush of the mess halls, Jeanne and her large family can't wait to say farewell to Manzanar.

This is an amazing true story, and the details of the story paint pictures of Manzanar in your mind. It's very informative, and will hook you in, but might lose its grip on occasion. I was tempted to skip a paragraph every once in a while, and the book really slowed down at parts. I think that this book is only okay.

Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston is a powerful, touching, and amazing story about a Japanese-American family who is taken away to Manzanar internment camp in Owens Valley, California. She writes in a manner that shows her, her family's, and her entire race's hardships through the point of view of her young self. The story starts out with the attack on Pearl Harbor, which leads to the taking of her father to an internment camp in North Dakota. Ms. Houston's family then must adapt to a way of life without her father. But just when her family has settled in with the new way of life, a notice goes up that all Japanese are being evacuated to internment camps. Ms. Houston then writes about what the barracks were like when the Japanese-Americans first arrived in Manzanar and about her family's first freezing night on the cold, steel army cots. Ms. Houston shows the way the Japanese make Manzanar their home instead of a prison, how her father is returned to his family, how a school is set up, and how she learns to twirl a baton.
Then, just when Manzanar was feeling almost like home, WWII ends and Manzanar closes down. Ms. Houston writes about how frustrating this was for most Japanese-Americans, being forced to elave their homes, then being forced again to leave their new ones.
Finally, to close the book, Ms. Houston writes about her life after Manzanar: finding a friend in a young girl she meets in school and becoming the Carnival Queen in high school. later she visits the sit of Manzanar with her husband and children.
Farewell to Manzanar is a beautifully written story that should be read and cherished by everyone, both children and adults.

Farewell to Manzanar is a book about a Japanese girl and her family that were held in an internment camp for the Japanese in the Californian desert during World War II. The book is written in great detail, with memories that are both touching and entertaining.
The Watsukis were one of the first families to arrive at Manzanar, after being forced to leave their fishing business on the coast of California. Jeanne Watsuki was a member of the Watsuki family, and suffered and grew up in Manzanar.
She included memories about the recruitment of Japanese-Americans for the war, the racism against the Japanese, and the aftermath, when the Americans finally realized that the Japanese in America should have the same rights as everyone else. Though the camp was to hold the Japanese in a kind of prison, Jeanne Watsuki has good memories as well as bad.
Jeanne Watsuki Houston and James D. Houston did a very good job of describing the Watsukis' experiences. They included a lot of details-including a timeline and a list of Japanese terms used in the book-that were helpful in understanding the story as well as making it enjoyable. The memoir itself was not a thrilling adventure tale, but one of a life tainted by captivity.
I do recommend this book, especially if you are interested in World War II. As well as being highly informative about the Japanese during the war, it tells you about the life in an internment camp as a memoir, with accurate details that deeply help your understanding of the book. It is a great read for someone looking for an interesting book, or even for someone looking for an informative book that tells about the Japanese internment camps.

FAREWELL to MANZANAR has become an"item"on required reading lists of the American Public School System. Multiple ironies of this will become manifestly obvious to anyone with modicum of historical background who reads this "True Story".True it may be; another DIARY of ANNE FRANK, it is not.Nor does it deserve...as it often is...reading in complement with Elie Wiesel's NIGHT.The book,in my estimate,is vastly over rated as PC agenda icon. The story is characteristically maudlin and carping.[Read excerpts concerning the author's powerful testimony about Manzanar's food/dietary regimen: apricot syrup oozing through her rice; indignity of being served canned sausage and green beans. Judge for yourself]

During(non-combat)service tour in Germany with USAREUR(US Army NATO contingent)I had opportunity to visit DACHAU(The SS training & prototype Nazi concentration camp just outside Munich). This is what "internment"camps comprised by our enemies. Read BATAAN DEATH MARCH: a Survivor's Acccount by William Dyess;or MY TIME in HELL by Dr.Lester Tenney(where our POW's were marched to "internment" without food or water; and how these unarmed prisoner soldiers dying of malaria,were beheaded or buried alive appealing for some).

FAREWELL to MANZANAR is unintentional confirmation of good will and essentially just treatment this nation INTENDS toward its POTENTIAL enemies(issue of protecting Americans of Japanese descent--from citizen reprisals--after attrocities like Batann or sneak attack at Pearl Harbour is dismissed). Current treatment of interned Islamic terrorists might be...to use term so beloved by our PC commissars...APPROPRIATE supplementary reading. Mrs.Jeanne Houston's "memoir"is,I repeat, vastly over rated. Ironies of what she reveals about this unfortunate National experience speak for themselves but do not...in my estimate...merit an entire generation of ahistorical, naive students being subjected to or exploited by them. (2 & 1/2 Stars)

Farewell to Manzanar
By: Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston & James D. Houston

The water was clean and the sky a "sharp Sunday blue", but Jeanne's life soon turned into a dull gray. She was a Japanese American living in the times of World War II.
Jeanne and her family are uprooted and forced to live in Manzanar internment camp when she is still a confused seven- year-old. She undergoes the wrath of her ego-crushed father, no private bathroom stalls, and cold desert nights at Manzanar, but not all were like this. She actually lived a normal life, attending school, trying ballet, baton twirling and having fun with her glee club. Life at Manzanar did become livable, and at the end of the war, many older people, like Jeanne's father, did not know where to go. They were afraid of what they might have to endure once out of the internment camp. Jeanne never really was able to express how she felt about her experience and went on to marry a white man. However, when she and her family took a trip out to what used to be Manzanar internment camp, thirty years after she left, she finally found true peace. Like The Diary of Anne Frank, this book retells a young girl's amazing story of how it was during World War II.
Jeanne not only told her story, but her father's as well. He took the internment camp herd. He'd come to America to earn a living and to restore honor to his family's name. She recalled that many memories about her father were mainly unpleasant. Papa, as Jeanne called him, became a drunk while in his depression stage at Manzanar and abused his wife, almost killing his her and himself a couple of times. Papa was proud and tried to impress others he met by saying that he'd finished college. In trying to become better then most Japanese Americans, he bought a house in a Caucasian neighborhood. Before Manzanar, when Jeanne and her family lost their home and were forced to live in shacks, she was scared of the others and ridiculed because she didn't know how to communicate with the other kids. She hadn't been taught Japanese.
Another thing that is amazing about this book is how Jeanne was able to endure her first few months at Manzanar. The huts were roughly the size of a living room and slept six. There were knots and holes in the floorboards and the first morning they woke, they were covered in clothes and a layer of sand. Her older brother, who was optimistic, woke early the first morning and found tin cans and nails. When the others went to breakfast, he patched up the holes. Another rough thing Jeanne and the others living at Manzanar had to endure was the fact that there were no stalls in the bathrooms. One old woman brought a big box into the bathroom to cover herself with and was kind enough to give it to Jeanne's mother. The one thing that Jeanne endured the most was fighting. She could not leave her hut and escape her parent's fighting like when they lived at home.
Jeanne's life was almost like a fairy tale because she went from good times, to disaster, and then she slowly was able to come back up the ladder. Papa had tried many other jobs before becoming an angler, and he liked to look good, so he always tried to provide the best for his family. They lived in a big enough house and ate good food. Then WWII came and all Japanese were herded into little ghettos. From there some families were separated while being relocated to internment camps. After Manzanar, her family lived in run down apartments for a while, but at least she was able to twirl her baton with the local band. When her father finally decided to become a farmer again, they began living better. Later on in her life, Jeanne married and had children. Her life had its ups and downs, but in the end, her life turned out all right, just like in a fairy tale.
This book is very detailed and is just an awesome story. Most books written after WWII were from Jewish survivors. This book tells the Japanese side of the story and how we treated them. I couldn't put this book down. I was dying to find out what event happened next in her life. It felt like I was in her place.



S. Gore

Humanities, First Fire of Five Fires project.

Farewell to Manzanzar
CT
Farewell to Manzanzar is an intriguing story about a Japanese family being evacuated to a camp named Manzanzar, during World War II. The author, Jean Watkatsuki Houston wrote the story from the perspective as an adult, recalling the life of Manzanzar when she was a young girl. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Jean's father was captured for interrogation. President Roosevelt had given the War Department the authority to define military areas in the western states and to exclude anyone who are Japanese descent that might threaten the war effort. The Watkatsukis were forced to evacuate to Manzanzar.
Jean was plunged into a world she did not know but she tried her hardest to make the best out of it. As the months turned into years, Jean grew accustom to her new home and matured as the war raged on. After three years, the Supreme Court ruled that they could not detain loyal citizens against their will. It was the first major step toward closing the camps. Finally, Japan surrendered on August 14,1945. This ended World War II and Mananzar Camp was officially closed. The three years in Manzanzar had changed Jean Watkatsuki's perspective in life. It took her many years to finally have the courage to face her ordeal and capture the experience in words.
This book is a true story that describes vividly the experience the author had in the camp. Its' characters and settings were well written and well developed. My favorite character was Jean's older brother Woody. He was a cheerful person who kept the spirit up for the family. Even during the hard times, Woody not only tried to make the best out of the situation, he was always able to have an optimistic attitude and helped the rest of the family financially and emotionally.
What I mostly enjoyed in the book was how the author had captured her thoughts and feelings. They were so real that I could almost felt her experience and feelings, the uncertainty she felt when she arrived in the camp and the same uncertainty she felt again when she left the camp three years later. I enjoyed the book because it was realistic, however, knowing that the story was real, I felt sad reading this part of our tragic history. I believe this book deserves a 9 out 10 and I highly recommend this book to both children and adults.

Miss Nuevaworm

It was the most EMOTIONAL story I have ever read about how things go from good to bad to worse to sad and ends happy.Its worth reading believe so just get it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I read the book Farewell to Manzanar. I think it was a good book for a couple reasons. One reason was it felt like you were part of the family. Another reason was that the author described it in detail. This is a book for a girl to read not a boy. I give it four out of five stars. It was a good book.

Daniel Holland

this book really gave me a peek into life in internment camps. houston really wrote with vigor and excellence, i would reccommend this book to anyone who likes history and WWII

When I first read this book 2 decades ago, I read it to learn about a history that I hoped our government would atone for. In fact, later, the US government did make reparations, and I had hoped that that would be the end of that story.

But today post 9/11, the same issues have arisen. This time, it is not Japanese-Americans, but Americans of Middle-Eastern descent. Today, the US Supreme Court announced its decision in "Hamdi v. Rumsfeld" in which a US citizen of Middle-Eastern descent was being held prisoner indefinitely by the US government even though there has been no trial and Hamdi has no access to a lawyer. The Supreme Court wisely said that this was unacceptable. In many sections of the opinion, the Court kept referring to the lessons we learned from the Japanese-American internment experience that is described in this book.

When times are stressful and we feel like we are being attacked by the enemy, it is easy to conclude that anyone who looks like the enemy should be detained, even without any evidence that that person did anything wrong. I hope that all people who feel that racial profiling is appropriate (or that all Middle Eastern people are suspect) read this book. Maybe this book will change their minds.

"Farewell to Manzanar" is by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston. In a foreword Jeanne Houston notes that this book, which tells about the internment of a Japanese-American family during World War II, is a true story. "Farewell" is a rich and fascinating chronicle. The Houstons follow the lives of the members of the Wakatsuki family before, during, and after the experience of internment.

The narrative is full of compelling details of the family's experiences. It is particularly intriguing to watch how the internment camp evolved into "a world unto itself, with its own logic"--a "desert ghetto." During the course of the book the authors discuss many important topics: religion, education, anti-Asian bigotry, the impact of the Pearl Harbor attack, the military service of Japanese-Americans during the war, and more.

The Houstons write vividly of the dislocation, humiliation, and injustice faced by the Wakatsuki family. Also powerful is the narrator's struggle to come to terms with her own ethnic identity.

For an interesting companion text, I would suggest "Desert Exile," by Yoshiko Uchida; this book also deals with the internment experience, but from a somewhat different perspective which complements that of the Houstons. I was moved by "Farewell." The book is a profound meditation on both the hope and the tragedy of the United States, in which the "American dream" can become intermingled with American nightmares. I consider this book an important addition to Asian-American studies in particular, and to the canon of multiethnic U.S. literature in general.

Recently I was assigned to read a story called Farewell to Manzanar. It is about a young Japanese girl sent to live in a camp for Japanese after Pearl Harbor. She has to leave everything and live in the camp for about 2 years and when May (Japanese girl) and her family their life has totally changed. Then when she gets way older she comes back to Manzanar and remembers what it was like.
I thought the book had some good things and some bad things about it. It was very good if you want to know what happened to Japanese people after Pearl Harbor. People can see how harshly they were treated and how tough it was for them to recover even after a few years. I didn't like the book because I thought it was a little slow and not much happened for a large amount of time in the book. The whole book took place in the camp Manzanar for a really long time and some different, interesting things happened while they were there but not much. There is really only stuff that happens in the beginning and the end. In all of Manzanar not to much happens. If you like books where you can learn a lot about our history and there still being a story it is the right book for you, but if you don't I don't recommend it very highly.

I was assigned to read this book in seventh grade. I read it in two days, I couldn't put it down. This book is a great read for all ages, it is a very mooving and powerful book.

the novel Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wskatsuki Houston and James D. Houston. this is the most bitterness book that we'ver ever read. gut it was kind of not that interestingto read. the book is mostly about world war II when Jeanne's family had to stay in a camp whith other Japanese people. then it took place when the war was over. the way she escribe this is really great. we could even picture ourself in the book with Jeanne. this book could take us back to history but it's not that interested. we would give her 3 stars for trying because no history could be interesting fot teenager like this book.

Author Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston has succeeded in writing a book that is readable and worthwhile for any reader -- I would say ages 12 to adult. I wish I had been assigned this in school, for I did not learn about Japanese internment camps until much later, probably my senior year in high school. I'd be willing to venture that even many high school students don't learn much about this part of American history.

The author wisely avoids pathos and melodrama, which allows the situation to speak for itself, standing out in stark relief against the backdrop of a "normal" life outside the camp. She manages to show us the dissolution of a family, the struggle to find and maintain an indentity in an artificially created city, populated by law, not by choice. These are bitter, difficult things and Wakatsuki Houston allows the impact to sneak up on the reader.

This is no finger-pointing, harshly worded attempt at implicating the reader and forcing an emotional response. Instead, it is a deeply personal account which leaves one to absorb its impact slowly, wanting to learn more, and wanting to know how we can stop this from happening again. We're on the brink of repeating these past mistakes even now, which makes this book a timely and important read.

Jeanne Wakatsuki wrote a really good book explaining her life and the behind the scenes of internment camps. She gave a true sense of what it was like for the people at Manzanar, and made me feel really bad. The U.S was wrong for putting innocent people into the camps, and unfortunately Jeanne and her family were some of those people. This book explains how the whole family was torn apart from something they had no control over. She explains everything with good elaboration and some humor, which makes it an enjoyable and educational book to read.

This is a woderful book. It shows the true meaning of how parents should get along. It also shows bravery in this book. Jeanna is a person who takes things into her own hand and make sure that nothing bad happens to her family. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about history.

I think that Farewell To Manzanar is an o.k. book. This book taught me how to be tolerance, because when Jeanne had to go to american schools there were alot of girls that would pick on her and she would just deal with it. I think that this book is a great book for you to read if you want to read about Japanese Americans during World War one and two. I think that it was bad how the government treated the Japanese. I think the Japanese should have gotten the same treatment as everybody else. Since I have read this book I have thought different about how people use to get treated back then. I always thought the Japanese got treated just like the rest of the people did. This book has made me think different about freedom also.
When I said that Jeanne was being tolerante in the book she was also being tolerant when she was in camp. She didn't know when she was going to get out and she just sat there and dealt with all of the pressure. When I say that I thought the Japanese got treated differently I am meaning like when the government just put them out there house I know they were in shock and didn't know what to say. I think that if the Japanese got put out everybody else should have gotten put out to.
7.2 C.A

I liked this book because Jeanne dealed with the discrimination against her race. .. I don't think that that should have taked place.

I disliked this book because I kind of scared me because I thought how I would feel if I were treated like that and had that type of freedom. I would not like that at all because I like my freedom to speak the words I would like, dress the way I like and many other things.

Farewell to manzanar was an ok book. It was wrong to put them in Manzanar without any proof that they were helping the Japanese. I think they should have been able to stay together in families instead of being seperated. They also shouldnt have been treated with a little more respect and shouldnt have had to stay in those little two rooms with all those holes in it and they should have built them a little better than they were.
They were treated badly by cacasions and themselves while they were in the camps. The mobs were hurting alot of people and some even went to jail for hurting a cook really bad. The dad should have been triled in a court and been proven guilty before they took him off for refueling enemy Japaneese enemy submarines.
The United States should not have locked all the Japanese away in camps. It makes me think twice about saying this is a free country. 7.2ZH

This book is a very good book to read,but sad to. The sad part about it is that papa got taken form his family. It would be sad to lose your father,and your sons looking after your wife. But papa came back after staying at Fort Lincoln. And another thing,I really don't know why americans still whant to tret jene and her family,like they come from a diffrent plant.They can't even get a real job,becaues they speak chinese.

The reason why I like this book is becaues of the real iife thats exists in this here book. I love books that has historical fition and nonfiction in it. And the way you say about Manzanar is exsiting and sad at the same time. I hope you write more books like this one.

My opinion of the book is that it was sad. I think it was sad because Jeanne's family was torn apart. Whe tey went to the Manzanar they just started falling apart. That's why the book is sad.

When they first started falling apart was when the FBI took Jeanne's dad. When they did that they really started to fall apart. Then the FBI told them they had fourty-eight hours to move out of their house. Which was really sad for them. They also had a small room in the barracks, and they have to eat seperated from each other in the Mess Hall.7.2 KAF

Farewell to Manzanar was a good book. Itshows the authors point of view the way she remembers it .Although I thought the book was somewhat sad ,it was still a good book .
When her father was arested at their house and they had to move,even though she did'nt under stand it at the time ,she probably was still sad .Having to Break the China was probably devestating to her mom , especialy since it wasvery expensive and special .
AR 7.2

I liked the book alot, it laked some of the action that I really like but other than that it was good. Really, it was a dramatic story. I had never known much about this event and was interesated to learn more. I now know, after looking through someone elses eyes how this had affected not only the Americans during WWII but how ot affected the Japanese-Americans also.

This book would really grab some of you "intelligent need to know woth a twist" types. It grabbed me and was a good change from the comics, sci-fi, and historical fiction I'm so used to. This is really a good book and " my compliments to the chef!"

I think that this book was sad, and intresting at the same time.I think it is sad because, they didnt have ahome and barely any friends. I think this boko is intresting bacause, the most impotant thing to the was to communicate with each other.
In this book it was sad to me because they didnt have any friends or a home and the book said they couldnt go back home cause they do not have a home . When she finally found some here to stay the other kids at her school didnt think that she could do the things that she did.The intresting part to me was when the book said that they couldnt communicate and they didnt have a kitchen or a kitchen table, but the weir d thing was that was the most important to them.
7.2 K.W.

Farewell to Manzanar is basically a story about a girl (Jeanne) and her life. When she is young she has to move and her father goes away and doesn't come back for a long time. When her family gets to where they're going, they have to live in a camp. They all have to share one room. Then she has to go to a new school where everybody thinks she's different because of the way she looks. They spit on her and her brother, and call them mean names. As she gets older she has a best friend named, Radine. They would do eveything together. When she went to High School, people began to think of her differently. She ran for Carnival Queen and won. Although her father was not at all pleased with this, he had been acting strange ever since he came back from Fort Lincoln. He was always drinking. By this time, Jeanne and her family had moved out of the camp, into an apartment complex. Jeanne's older brother(Woody), went back to Japan, where they came from.The rest of her family has been living in America ever since. Jeanne's father died after a few years. Later in life Jeanne got married and had kids of her own, and went back to visit the camp where she once lived, and said goodbye.
I liked this book because I like to read about peoples life story's. To me it was sad how her family was torn apart. For example: her father left, they had to move, her brother left. I like these kinda books because there interesting and they keep my attention, thinking what's gonna happen next. I also liked it how the auther would go back and forth between the time periods.