LOVE IN THE LIBRARY, by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Yas Imamura, Candlewick, Feb. 8, 2022, Hardcover, $18.99 (ages 6-9)
Love in the Library tells the story of author Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s grandparents who fell in love while detained in a WWII incarceration camp for Japanese Americans.
To fall in love is already a gift. But to fall in love in a place like Minidoka, a place built to make people feel like they weren’t human — that was miraculous.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Tama is sent to live in a War Relocation Center in the desert. All Japanese Americans from the West Coast — elderly people, children, babies — now live in prison camps like Minidoka.
To be who she is has become a crime, it seems, and Tama doesn’t know when or if she will ever leave. Trying not to think of the life she once had, she works in the camp’s tiny library, taking solace in pages bursting with color and light, love and fairness.
And she isn’t the only one.
George waits each morning by the door, his arms piled with books checked out the day before. As their friendship grows, Tama wonders: Can anyone possibly read so much? Is she the reason George comes to the library every day? —Synopsis provided by Candlewick
Love in the Library is a story of love. It’s also a story of racism and pain. Together, these elements become a heartbreakingly beautiful story of America’s not-so-distant past and present. The story resonates because parallels to today can easily be drawn.
Author Maggie Tokuda Hall’s writing is warm and full of emotion. Paired with Tas Imamura’s striking illustrations, this picture book belongs in homes and classrooms across the country.
In the news:
Love in the Library received multiple starred reviews when it was first released in 2022. Publications lauded it saying:
“The author’s gentle text captures the resilience of human dignity and optimism even during times of immense challenge and adversity.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Alongside a sensitive introduction to life in Japanese internment camps, this picture book transcends its central romance to encompass love for books, community, and being ‘human.’”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“This lovely, inspiring story unfolds in Imamura’s muted art, cushioning the harsh reality of how Japanese Americans were treated during World War II” —School Library Journal (starred review)
Recently, it re-entered public dialogue when Scholastic offered to license Love in the Library. Author Maggie Tokuda-Hall was initially thrilled with the offer, but it came with a change Tokuda-Hall wasn’t willing to make.
Scholastic wanted to remove a key section of Tokuda-Hall’s author’s note that references the American tradition of racism that led to the incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans from 1942-45. “Hate is not a virus; it is an American tradition,” she wrote.
The move to remove racism in her book, Tokuda-Hall said, mirrors recent attempts to silence authors — largely people of color and queer people — who don’t fall in line with conservative advocacy groups.
Scholastic has since apologized and offered to publish Love in the Library unchanged. Tokuda-Hall has declined the offer, saying that she appreciates the swift apologies, but Scholastic seems unprepared to make real change. You can read her full statement here.
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