MIRA AND BAKU

Being apart from family is never easy.

Mira, a Japanese Canadian girl living in a village of gray shacks, worries when Mama says that Pa won’t join them on the child’s birthday. With a tapirlike creature named Baku—explained in the backmatter as a dream eater from Japanese folklore—Mira flies all the way to the family’s former shop and home, both abandoned and in disrepair, to locate Pa, but he’s nowhere to be found. Mira tries to play with stones gathered with Pa but discards them in unresolved anger and confusion. Simplistic, at times dry text neatly avoids the darker reason for the family’s separation. Context about the incarceration of Japanese Canadians during World War II (and how men were often sent to separate labor camps) is relegated to the lengthy author’s note, which uses the euphemistic term internment rather than incarceration. Muted illustrations depict the stones with more vibrant tones, perhaps to signify their importance in Mira’s life. Amid a drab palette, occasional bright colors—green fields and sunny yellows in flashbacks with Pa—provide some respite. Despite some warm moments with Mama, Mira suffers emotionally from Pa’s absence in a way that kids likely won’t understand; grown-ups may want to consult the appended list of references to offer background.

An attempt at a child-friendly exploration of the WWII Japanese Canadian incarceration that falls short.