Love in the Library
Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Yas Imamura
Walker Books

It’s possible to find love, even under the worst situations and so it was for Tama and George in this story based on the experiences of the author’s grandparents who were put in Minidoka incarceration camp during the second world war just for being Japanese Americans. (An author’s note explains the reasons for this terrible unjust treatment at the end of the book.)

This particular love blooms in a desert library in Minidoka incarceration camp where young Tama works. Every day George visits the library; he too is a lover of books, or so it seems as he always takes away a pile of them and always has a smile on his face. ‘Constant’ Tama calls George and his smile

as helped by books, she tries not to spend all her time thinking of the life before incarceration. Instead she thinks of the gift of the books she is surrounded by.

Gradually, struggling to describe her overwhelming feelings, she opens up to George. He offers her a word – human – and it helps her feel less alone; he also uses the same word to explain why he vistis the library daily and takes so many books. Hope and love blossom – a miracle for sure. Tama and George marry and their first child is born in Minidoka – another light in their lives.

Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s telling is beautifully crafted and together with exquisitely illustrated scenes by Yas Imamura in muted tones showing the harsh realities of the camp, highlight the injustice while at the same time celebrate the treasure of hope and love humans can find against all the odds.

A book that deserves to be widely read.