We learned about segregation when we read the story of Jackie Robinson. My students were stunned to learn about Japanese internment camps from this story. She also wanted to write and illustrate books that had babies with all colors of skin. This was not popular in her time, but eventually, people started to see it her way.
It teaches a great lesson: even if everyone seems to accept something as just the way it is, one person can make a difference by standing up for what they know to be right.
We were stumped by the genre of this book. It is a true story but it was in the fiction section. I even asked the librarian at the public library and she was stumped too. We went an email to the author to ask her if she knows why. The information on the inside cover from the Library of Congress doesn't seem to say to me that it should be fiction or non-fiction.
Goodreads says:
Gyo Fujikawa's iconic children's books are beloved all over the world. Now it's time for Gyo's story to be told -- a story of artistic talent that refused to be constrained by rules or expectations.
Growing up quiet and lonely at the beginning of the twentieth century, Gyo learned from her relatives the ways in which both women and Japanese people lacked opportunity. Her teachers and family believed in her and sent her to art school and later Japan, where her talent flourished. But while Gyo's career grew and led her to work for Walt Disney Studios, World War II began, and with it, her family's internment. But Gyo never stopped fighting -- for herself, her vision, her family and her readers -- and later wrote and illustrated the first children's book to feature children of different races interacting together.
This luminous new book beautifully and openly touches on Gyo's difficult experiences and growth. Through Julie Morstad's exquisite illustrations, alternating between striking black-and-white linework and lush colour, and Kyo Maclear's artful and accessible writing, the story of this cherished figure is told at last.
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