Weedflower

Weedflower, by Cynthia Kadohata takes place during the Japanese Internment, but has a deeper message than just one little girl’s experience. Sumiko Matsuda is a little girl just like millions of little girls in America during the time of World War Two. She gets excited about birthday parties and helps take care of her little brother and wants desperately to have friends. Her only difference is that she is Japanese and her background makes her a target for prejudice. Sumiko gives a specialized account of her families experience when the war began and when they were relocated to Poston, an internment camp. I loved that this book was written in the perspective of a young girl. We as Americans are so used to hearing about tragedy and war stories that they become unreal, but reading about a little girl caught in the middle of this situation makes it real and helps the reader realize what was really going on at this time. I also really loved the focus on friendship in the book. Sumiko’s whole perspective on her life is changed based on whether or not she feels like she has a friend. She is desolate and bored without the company of other people and she is upbeat and hopeful when she can label someone as a friend. It makes her character real and relatable to modern day children. I loved that her friends she finally made were an old man, a stealing girl and an Indian boy that should have been the enemy in her situation. Her personality, fears, hopes and heart are revealed in these friendships. Her love of flowers and her nurturing spirit are conveyed as she prunes a garden with Mr. Moto. Her naiveté and will to fit in with her peers is shown through her friendship with Sachi. Her loving heart and kindness are shown in her friendship with Frank. He brings out a side of her that she probably didn’t know she had. I love that she manages to blossom, like the “weedflower” that she is, even in the midst of all the injustice and dust that is her world in the internment camp.