Enemy Child

January 28, 2019
With great sensitivity, Warren (Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London) traces the experiences of former congressman Norman Mineta, whose family was forcibly relocated in 1942 during the WWII-era internment of Japanese-Americans. Interweaving historical background, various accounts, and Mineta’s first-person recollections, Warren skillfully illuminates what it felt like to be targeted and imprisoned. Mineta’s memories range from seeing his father cry after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, to his own pride at the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which apologized for and provided restitution to internment survivors. One powerful chapter recounts the day that future senator Alan Simpson, then a Wyoming Boy Scout, met Mineta in the nearby internment camp; the two remain friends and ardent defenders of constitutional rights. Archival photos throughout are augmented by additional information, multimedia sources, a bibliography, and notes. There are still too few books for youth about U.S. Japanese-American internment, and this affecting volume offers an essential view. Ages 10–up.