SHELL SONG

SHELL SONG by Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson

Shell Song is a touching, true story based on a Japanese family's experience during World War II while living in Hawaii. After the attack at Pearl Harbor came the internment of Fujimoto-Johnson's grandfather along with many other Japanese Americans. Looking for ways to pass the long hours, the prisoners often collected and studied sea shells storing them in tiny matchboxes. The precious shells have now been passed down to the author who recognizes that she holds a very difficult piece of her family's history in her hands. Fujimoto-Johnson's grandfather never fully recovered from his time in the camp. He returned with his "body brittle and his heart hollow." Despite this, he taught his children to "love the sea" and "two countries just the way he did in his short life." The book closes with a lengthy Author's Notes section complete with pictures and the US government's later investigation and apology for the treatment of Japanese Americans during this time.