Aleutian Sparrow

Pre-reading:
Upon exploring the websites on the Aleutian evacuation and internment I am troubled by the events. It seems to me that the Aleut people could not safely stay in their homes and villages because of the Japanese invasion. I understand why they were evacuated. I also understand that the destinations they were evacuated to were unnacceptable. The internment camps are described as being awful with tainted water and food and outbreaks of all kinds of illnesses. I think this is yet another example of the scrambling the U.S. government does during times of war. No one knows what to do and the wrong actions are taken. In this instance it also seems that racism came into the decision of how to handle the Aleut people. These people trusted the government to help them out of a bad situation and then the government through them into an even worse situation. If the Japanese had attacked another part of the country I don't think interment camps would have been the solution and I think it is unnacceptable that this is the solution the government decided would work with the Aleutians.

Post-reading:
After reading Aleutian Sparrow by Karen Hesse I have a new understanding of the trauma experienced by the Aleut people. I still can't understand how the U.S. government rationalized treating these people the way they did.
This book is written differently than any other book i've read. Each page seems to be another entry from the diary of a girl experiencing the whole situation. Each page is written poetically. The stories on each page are about a different aspect of the awful things this group of people were forced to go through. Most of the readings include information about the basics of whats going on. All of the readings also include a glimpse into the emotions of this girl. The situation can easily be dehumanized in the minds of current Americans, but this book gives the events emotion. It gives this blunder in American history a face and feelings. I loved that this book had so many aspects. The narrator was dealings losing friends, her mother deserting her, and her second family (who basically raised her) being separated from her, disease affecting almost everyone, and a loss of identity in a place she cannot ever call home. Throughout all of this, however Vera manages to see love in a friend she has had forever and manages to keep hope in a desperate situation. I really enjoyed this book for all of it's emotion and also for the historical background.