I have 2 picture book bios to share from the Trailblazing Canadians series #gifted to me by @heritagehousepublishing If you're not Canadian, don't scroll away - I hope you still read them! They're inspiring & a great classroom resource or book for elementary kids obsessed with history or stem. I know this post is a bit longer today, but promise it's worth the read.
The first one I'm going to share is Kimiko Murakami: A Japanese Canadian Pioneer by @haleyhealey A few years ago, @universallimitedtheatre did a site specific theatre show about Japanese Canadians forced to live in the barns at Hastings Park in Vancouver during World War II. The thing making it site specific is it was performed in the actual cattle stalls and the audience followed them through the grounds. It was very powerful. I had heard about the Japanese internment camps, but was surprised by how many others had never heard of the way Japanese Canadians were treated here during the war.
This book is the biography of Kimiko Murakami, who was born just outside Vancouver and grew up on Salt Spring Island, tending to the land, learning to drive, and raising her own children there. It explains that during WWII, Canada made new rules for Japanese Canadians. Murakami was taken from her home and put in those barns at Hastings Park. Despite being Canadian she was treated "other" and moved around like cattle, eventually forced to work in internment camps. The book praises her "ganbaru" spirit - to push on through hard times - and eventually her family returns to Salt Spring Island. Even then, things weren't easy. Their land was never returned to them - it was given away as if they'd never even been there. But they persevered and now her story is being told through this important picture book.
The art by @kimiko.fraser feels like a time capsule. The illustrations are inspired by actual photographs of the Murakami family. So much of this book is about a really dark story, yet through the berries and cherry blossoms we can see the hope for new growth coming back.
Thanks to the publisher for the gifted copy - opinions are my own.
