Red Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky

By: Sandra Dallas

Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda

It's 1942: Tomi Itano, 12, is a second-generation Japanese American who lives in California with her family on their strawberry farm. Although her parents came from Japan and her grandparents still live there, Tomi considers herself an American. She doesn't speak Japanese and has never been to Japan. But after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, things change. No Japs Allowed signs hang in store windows and Tomi's family is ostracized. Things get much worse.

Suspected as a spy, Tomi's father is taken away. The rest of the Itano family is sent to an internment camp in Colorado. Many other Japanese American families face a similar fate. Tomi becomes bitter, wondering how her country could treat her and her family like the enemy. What does she need to do to prove she is an honorable American? Sandra Dallas shines a light on a dark period of American history in this story of a young Japanese American girl caught up in the prejudices and World War II.

©2014 Sandra Dallas (P)2014 Recorded Books

A must read.

This little nugget was a true delight. It is very well written and an important book in any day and age. Especially for today’s world. Don’t miss it. it was free but really worth a credit. I’d encourage you to read it.

Pleasantly surprised!

I didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. I will recommend this as a good coming of age story about a terrible time in our history. It's well written and inspiring.

What a gem!

It must have been difficult in relocation camps during World War II. It was a different perspective told by 12 year old Tomi. I especially enjoyed the narrator Jennifer Ikeda, she made you.feel like you were right with this family. I highly recommend. Listen with the family or by yourself.

History Repeating Itself

At first I didn’t think I was going to enjoy this book. Its voice wasn’t what I was expecting. Instead of an adult book on the relocation of Japanese Americans during WW2 I found it to be a book for upper middle school students. Once I got used to that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Although I knew that Japanese Americans in California were relocated into camps I thought they stayed in California and not shipped to Colorado and Wyoming.
I chose the title of this review History Repeating Itself because as I was listening to the book I kept thinking that the same thing is happening in America today. Immigrants/illegals are being rounded up and put into camps or deported even though they have lived and worked in the States for many years. Too bad we can’t learn from our past!!
I highly recommend this book to all upper middle school students to read about this part of neglected history.

Homeschool read aloud

This book was fantastic; giving a first hand view of Japanese internment camps. We learned so much in our study of WWII . If you are studying this time era, listen to this book. The performance by the reader was captivating. Great audible!!!!