Hello, and welcome to our book club!

     Our book is called Journey to Topaz by Yoshiko Uchida. Yoshiko Uchida, being the daughter of frugal, poor, Japanese parents, she began writing stories at the age of ten on brown wrapping paper she bound into booklets. She grew up in Berkeley, California, where, when she was a grown woman, made a living as the foremost Japanese-American woman writer of her time. She published Journey to Topaz in 1971 and died in 1992.

Before you start reading, read the title and look at the front cover of the book, but don’t read the summary on the back.

Tasks:

1. Respond to this question in the comments: Based on the title and cover of this book, what do you predict Journey to Topaz will be about?
2. Read from page 1-29.

Welcome back to book club!

     In the section you had just read, Pearl Harbor was bombed, and Yuki’s father was forced to move away from his home in Berkeley, California to an Army Internment Camp in Montana. The FBI patrol the house and make sure no one gets access into the house or comes out. Mrs. Jamieson, Yuki’s friend, gives Yuki a pearl ring to remember her by, and on February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders that all of the Japanese living on the West Coast be moved to different locations across the country. Yuki and her family are unwilling to move, but unfortunately, they have no choice.

Tasks:

1. Respond to this question in the comments: Yuki’s family is forced to move away from their home in Berkeley, California. How would you feel if you were forced to move out of your home?
2. Read from page 31-58.

Hi everybody, and welcome back to book club!

     Sadly, Yuki and her family must start emptying their house of their belongings and begin packing their ever-growing “going-to-camp” bundle. Before Yuki’s family leaves for the internment camps the next day, Mrs. Nelson,Yuki’s neighbor, invites them to a last dinner at her house that is as delicious as a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. The next day, Yuki and her family board the buses to their new home, and they arrive in an internment camp called Tanforan with tall, barbed wire gates. Tanforan, however, is not a good place in terms of sanity,   for the latrines are dirty and door-less, the mess hall is small and messy, and their home is a horse stall on a horse racetrack. In the end, Yuki’s mother makes tea for them all, and Mr.Toda, Yuki’s friend, gives Yuki a small bag of peanuts to comfort her.

Tasks:

1. Respond to this question in the comments: List some similarities and differences between Tanforan and Yuki’s old home in Berkeley.
2. Read pages 59-91.

Hello everybody!

     The day after Yuki and her family arrive in Tanforan, Yuki meets a young girl named Emiko Kurihara who lives with her grandparents, and they become fast friends.  All of a sudden,Mrs.Jamieson, Mimi, and Mrs.Nelson come for a surprise visit to Tanforan, and after they give Yuki’s family many goods, the family decides to host a party for all of their friends in their apartment.  A few days later at the party, Ken, Yuki’s brother, announces that he has the opportunity to move out of camp to finish his college education, and since Yuki doesn’t want to see her brother leave, this one fact spoils the party for Yuki.  But Yuki has other things to worry about, like the rumor that they will be moving to another internment camp in Utah soon, and once Yuki and Emi’s families find out that the rumor is true, they are all quite sober.  About a month later, as trains of buses drive to the new internment camp with Yuki and her family in it, Ken decides that he will not leave for college, but Yuki can tell he is still troubled by his decision.

Tasks:

1. Respond to this question in the comments: Did you think Ken should have moved away from camp to go to college and to pursue his career as a doctor? Why or why not?
2. Read from page 93-122.

Welcome back, everyone!

     Stiff and tired from the long bus ride, Yuki and her family finally arrive in their new internment camp called Topaz. Topaz has very dusty facilities, but Yuki and her family learn to cope with it, and one day, as Yuki and Emi look for artifacts in the Utah desert, Emi is diagnosed with tuberculosis. One day, as Yuki visits Emi in the hospital to give her a gift, Yuki has to brave a dust storm just to get back to her apartment. One fateful evening, as Yuki and her family meet up with Emi’s grandmother, Mr.Toda bursts into the room, shouting that Mr.Kurihara was shot! Mrs. Kurihara finds out her husband is dead, and Yuki, who has grown quite fond of him, pushes her best artifact she has found into Mr.Kurihara’s grave.

Tasks:

1. Respond to this question in the comments: Do you think Mr Kurihara deserved such a terrible fate? Why or why not?
2. Read from page 123-149.

Welcome back, book club!

A few days after discovering that Yuki’s father will be released on parole, on the day before Christmas, Yuki’s father and the rest of Yuki’s family reunite after more than a year of separation. To celebrate, people crowd into Yuki’s small apartment to hear what Yuki’s father had to say about the terrible conditions in Montana while he was interned and to eat and drink snacks such as crackers with tea. A few months later in February, the War Department came to recruit and make an all-Nisei combat team for the military, and to Yuki’s horror, Ken volunteers and leaves Yuki’s family behind to fight in the war. One night, a while after Ken’s departure, a fascist gang threatens to beat up Yuki’s father because he works too closely with the Caucasians. As a result, Yuki’s father makes arrangements to leave camp, and after Yuki’s family vows to find a home for Mr.Toda, Emi, and Emi’s grandmother soon in Salt Lake City, they leave for the beloved world outside the barbed wire.

Tasks:

1. Respond to this question: What do you think the author’s purpose was? How is the character development or the setting in Journey to Topaz tied to the author’s purpose? Explain.