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Love in the Library, written by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and illustrated by Yas Imamura, tells the story of Tama and George, two young nikkei imprisoned at Minidoka who find a way to happiness in the midst of hardship.

What I liked:

• It would be so interesting to listen to a group of intergenerational nikkei discuss Love in the Library in conversation with Displacement, by Kiku Hughes, and They Called Us Enemy, by George Takei. Come to think of it, I may have seen a virtual get-together with a similar theme advertised online somewhere, maybe one of the programs put on by JANM (?), but I think this type of conversation would be especially interesting as part of the interactive programming that occurs during JA pilgrimages, possibly the Manzanar pilgrimage.
• Imamura’s soft color palette sets the mood perfectly, never letting the reader forget we are following a story in a prison camp, but also lighting certain moments and objects, suggesting Tama never loses hope in spite of her struggles. According to the technical information at the front of the book, the illustrations are gouache and watercolor, yet Imamura’s use of line and shape makes people and structures and objects almost look as if they are cut from paper. I do not know if this is typical of Imamura’s style, but in the context of this book, I felt this choice was particularly effective in two ways. One, the majority of the story is set in a library, and libraries are filled with books, which are made of paper, so having a repeated visual reminder of the ‘paper-ness’ of paper helps anchor the reader solidly in the story environment. Two, the paper-like images appear fragile, as if on the verge of being blown away in a gust of wind, reminding the reader the camp experience, while extremely difficult, did eventually end for our nikkei ancestors. Now that I think of it, the idea of paper blowing in the wind also evokes the extreme weather conditions of the desert, which may be an additional way of subliminally drawing the reader into the story’s atmosphere.

What I learned:

• I’m sure I’ve read (or seen) multiple depictions of camp libraries, but Imamura’s illustrations starkly highlight the sparse resources available to nikkei in the camps. I wonder if my grandfather, while imprisoned in Topaz, ever visited their library (I assume Topaz had a library). I have no idea if he read recreationally in English, or if, like my mom, he only read in English when necessary and did all his leisure reading in Japanese.

Questions I had:

• How many nikkei continued with the ‘occupation’ they held in camp, in life after camp? For example, would someone like Tama have pursued work in a library after leaving camp? I’m thinking of the intersections of memory, PTSD, and the very real need to survive in a hostile US, all of which were major factors impacting the lives and experiences of nikkei after camp. Perhaps a different way to approach this question would be to ask, did any nikkei discover their new or future occupation while in camp? I realize this would not have been possible for every field, since opportunities in camp were limited. I have no idea what my grandfather did while imprisoned with his wife and children at Topaz, though I know he ran a laundromat after being released.

Follow-up:

• I would absolutely love to read more collaborations between Tokuda-Hall and Imamura! I’m already somewhat familiar with Tokuda-Hall’s work, but I’m super excited to see what Imamura has in store for us.