I think someone at a conference recommended this book. Whoever it was I’m grateful. So Far From the Bamboo Grove rates “Excellent” on my list. It all felt so real. The story made me feel pain for what 11-year-old Yoko had to go through, yet felt honest because she shares the times she whined. It taught me about a situation I wasn’t previously familiar with–when the Japanese living in Korea in 1945 had to leave their homes and return to Japan.
Originally published in 1986, the book was reprinted by HarperCollins in 1994 and is still for sale. Anyone wanting to understand the bigger picture of WW2 should read this book!
Yoko Kawshima Watkins also wrote a sequel called My Brother, My Sister, and I.