After Pearl Harbor, little Marie Mitsui's typical life of school and playing with friends in San Francisco is upended. Her family and thousands of others of Japanese heritage are under suspicion and forcibly relocated to internment camps far from home. Living conditions in the camps are harsh, but in the end Marie finds freedom and hope for the future. Told from a child's perspective, The Little Exile deftly conveys Marie's innocence, wonder, fear, and outrage. This work of autobiographical fiction is based on the author's own experience as a wartime internee.
Jeanette Arakawa was born in San Francisco in 1932 and was interned in the 1940s at the Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas.
After Pearl Harbor, little Marie Mitsui's typical life of school and playing with friends in San Francisco is upended. Her family and thousands of others of Japanese heritage are under suspicion and forcibly relocated to internment camps far from home. Living conditions in the camps are harsh, but in the end Marie finds freedom and hope for the future. Told from a child's perspective, The Little Exile deftly conveys Marie's innocence, wonder, fear, and outrage. This work of autobiographical fiction is based on the author's own experience as a wartime internee.
Jeanette Arakawa was born in San Francisco in 1932 and was interned in the 1940s at the Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas.
outreach to history and multicultural university teachers
outreach to libraries in areas with large JA populations (San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York)
Promotion targeting JA and Asian American publications and
websites, such as
Japanese American Citizens League
Japanese American Museum of San Jose
Japanese American National Museum
National Association of Japan-America Societies
National Japanese American Historical Society
Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre
Japanese American Family History Resources
Japanese American Genealogy Forum
Halvsie.com
A More Perfect Union—Smithsonian Institution
Children of the Camps
Densho
http://caamedia.org/jainternment.
Japanese American Veterans’ Association
Japanese Relocation during World War II—National Archives
Resisters.com
http://www.8asians.com/
http://alllooksame.com/
http://alpha-asian.blogspot.com/
http://blog.angryasianman.com/
Galleys/e-galleys to national media outlets, trade publications,
and audience-focused websites and reviewers. (AV Club, Book Forum,
Booklist, BookPage, Buzzfeed Books, Choice Book Reviews, Electric
Literature, Entropy, Foreword, Full Stop, Huffington Post, i09.
Jacket2, Journal of Japanese Studies, LA Times, Lambda Literary,
Lithub, Midwest Book Review, Portland Book Review, Publishers
Weekly, Rain Taxi, San Francisco Book Review, Shelf Awareness,
Story Circle Book Reviews, The Guardian, The Japan Times, The LA
Review of Books, The Mary Sue, The New York Journal of Books, The
New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, World
Literature Today, Kyoto Journal, AJE, Japan Realm, Metropolis News,
Japan Culture NYC, Haikugirl's Japan, Tofugu)
AAS and library shows
Giveaways with Goodreads and Asian American focused websites (100
copies)
electronic galleys on Edelweiss
Sample pages hosted on Stone Bridge Press website
(www.stonebridge.com)
Pursue endorsements from well known Japanese American celebrities
such as George Takei
Social media marketing with excerpts from the book on Facebook,
Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit and target audience
focused forums
Jeanette Arakawa was born in San Francisco, California to Japanese immigrants. Between 1942 and 1945, during World War II, she was part of a diaspora that took her to Stockton, California, Rohwer, Arkansas, and Denver, Colorado. She returned to San Francisco in 1946.
Jeanette and her husband, Kiyoto, have two sons and a grown granddaughter. Over the years Jeanette's devotion to educational issues has permitted her to share her experiences in the classroom as well as other forums. She continues to be an active member of her temple. Writing, line dancing, taiko (Japanese drumming), and singing occupy the spaces available in her busy life. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
"Jeanette Arakawa has done a masterful job in bringing this tragic
story to life. It should be required reading in our schools. We
have to make sure that what happened to my parents, and tens of
thousands of other Japanese-Americans, never happens
again. The Little Exile belongs on everyone's shelf."
—Prof. Michio Kaku, Professor of Theoretical Physics, author
of Physics of the Impossible "Arakawa revisits the fear,
confusion and injustice her family experienced during World War
II... Describes years of displacement and privation as she comes to
understand the meaning of discrimination in the land of the free.
"
—The Mercury News "Deeply moving and poignant"
—Gayle Noguchi, Wheel of Dharma "A
literary-cultural-historical gift"
—Asian American Literature Fans "Through the sharp and observant
eyes of a preteen child, Jeanette Arakawa offers a readable,
matter-of-fact account of wartime upheaval and the imprisonment of
her family and 120,000 other Japanese-Americans. . . . The
Little Exile should be required reading for every schoolchild
and every U.S. government official."
— Sharon Noguchi, journalist "An illuminating glimpse inside a
stolen life."
—101 Books About Japan "Moving, beautiful, and important."
—Doug Dorst, New York Times Best-selling author of S (with JJ
Abrams) and Alive in Necropolis "A delightful read for all ages — a
young heroine who prevails through the World War II incarceration
of Japanese Americans. Marie Mitsui is as tenacious as a Hayao
Miyazaki heroine, so perhaps, rather than a 1940s movie that rarely
had Asian faces, you might discover an inspiring animation as you
read The Little Exile.
—Nichi Bei "With the deftness and colorful detail of a gifted
artist, Arakawa captures the WWII confinement experience of
Japanese Americans as seen through the eyes of a young child.
Little Marie’s innocent wisdom and spritely audacity frame the
enormity of the trauma along with the minutiae of everyday life
confined by barbed wire. Her story tugs at the conscience and
inspires human kindness."
—Satsuki Ina, Ph.D., Producer, PBS documentary, Children of the
Camps "Arakawa’s detailed child’s eye view of that story is by
turns funny, angry, and sad, like most children are. It is a
worthwhile addition to the camp memoir club."
—Densho 5/5 "Arakawa tells her remarkable story with
neither bitterness nor anguish but spares no details of the
disturbing experience."
— San Francisco Book Review "Set amidst the tumult and trauma
of displacement and incarceration, Arakawa offers us the moving and
poignant story of a young girl whose American identity is
constantly challenged. The Little Exile dramatically
captures not only the broad historical injustices, but also the
small acts of kindness and cruelty that leave such an indelible
impression on our lives."
—Michael Omi, University of California, Berkeley "These are
experiences that need to be remembered"
—Kirkus Reviews "Few books about Japanese American incarceration
capture so vividly the feel of community before the war, during the
incarceration, and in the postwar relocation years. Arakawa has
written an epic story in small, exquisitely remembered vignettes
that glow with humor, warmth, and her own and her family's
wisdom."
—Gil Asakawa, author, Being Japanese American "An evocative
excursion into a young person’s life being drastically
inverted."
—The International Examiner "The Little Exile is a memoir
worth reading. One piece of advice though: be prepared to read it
in multiple sittings. My heart needed time between chapters or it
would’ve broken."
—Hippocampus Magazine "The Little Exile has a renewed and
special relevance for today's national discussion related to
immigration issues and the unhappy willingness of a great many
Americans to repeat the errors of our past."
—The Midwest Book Review "[The Little Exile] gives us a peak into
the racism and the hate Japanese Americans had to endure during
those years—but also the small acts of kindness that they also
experienced too. These kinds of stories are important."
—8Asians "Arakawa takes readers on a journey through the brutal
challenges that many Japanese Americans faced."
—JQ Magazine
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