Aleutian Sparrow

By Hesse, Karen

Publishers Summary:
An Aleutian Islander recounts her suffering during World War II in American internment camps designed to "protect" the population from the invading Japanese. Annotation. "Your work, Vera," Alfred's grandfather told me, "your work is to know the ways of our people." In June of 1942, seven months after attacking Pearl Harbor, the Japanese navy invaded Alaska's Aleutian Islands. For nine thousand years the Aleut people had lived and thrived on these treeless, windswept lands. Within days of the first attack, the entire native population living west of Unimak Island was gathered up and evacuated to relocation centers in the dense forests of Alaska's Southeast. With resilience, compassion, and humor the Aleuts responded to the sorrows of upheaval and dislocation. This is Vera's story, but it is woven from the same fabric as the stories of displaced peoples throughout history. It chronicles the struggle to survive and to keep community and heritage intact despite harsh conditions in an alien environment. In a luminous novel of unrhymed verse, Newbery winner Karen Hesse brings to light this little-known episode from America's past.

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ISBN
978-0-68986-189-5
Publisher
McElderry


REVIEWS

School Library Journal

Reviewed on October 1, 2003

Gr 6-Up In June, 1942, Japanese forces attacked the Aleutian Islands. Within days of the attack, the U.S. military removed the Native people of these islands to relocation centers in Alaska's southwest, supposedly for their own protection. Conditions in these camps were deplorable. The Aleuts were held for approximately three years, and many of them died. In a series of short, unrhymed verses, Hesse tells this moving story through the eyes and voice of a girl of Aleut and Cauca...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Horn Book Magazine

Reviewed on January 1, 2004

Fans of Hesse's Out of the Dust and Witness may find this third historical novel written in free verse disappointing. Despite some deftly written entries, the novel doesn't provide a clear picture of either the young narrator (Vera, who's half-Aleutian, half-white) or the historical events (the relocation of hundreds of Aleuts during World War II). Unlike Hesse's fully realized narrator in Out of the Dust, young ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

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