Red Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky

   After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1942, all the Japanese in America were sent to internment camps. People accused the Japanese of being spies. 'No Japs' signs were put up in stores. Innocent Japanese were arrested until they could prove they weren't spies. 

   

   Tomi Itano is an American Japanese. Her parents came from Japan, but at home they are loyal to America. They don't even speak Japanese. But then her father is arrested. While she and her family struggle to stay positive, they are shipped away to internment camps. 

   Wouldn't that be horrible? Taken away from your home to go to some camps that feel like prison. Not trusted by your fellow Americans. It would be awfully hard not to become bitter. How will Tomi handle the camps? Will her father ever come home?

 

   Despite its boring summary, I really like Red Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky. While Tomi struggles to remember that she's an American no matter what people say, Sandra Dallas takes you along with her in a sad, interesting book. Don't worry - no one dies. 

  

Book of a Thousand Days

  Dashti is a mucker maid to Lady Saren. Not long after she becomes so, however, they are locked up in a tower with no way out and no company except each other. They are supposed to stay there for seven years - but, of course, why would the author torture you with that? Who is in charge of the break-out? Who is threatening to burn the tower down? How will they escape? This book is written as a journal of Dashti's, where she reveals all her secrets, hopes, desires, and fears. She's told  of the times she felt unworthy, the times when she was triumphant, and the multiple times her life has been threatened.
   Shannon Hale is a wonderful master of words. Her books run smoothly and wonderfully, drawing the reader in until he or she can't put the book down until they've read it all the way through. 
  
(This book is one that I'm going to have to read again)