nA moving primary source sheds light on the experience of Japanese American children imprisoned in a World War II internment camp. nA classroom diary created by Japanese American children paints a vivid picture of daily life in a so-called internment camp. Mae Yanagi was eight years old when she started school at Topaz Camp in Utah. She and her third-grade classmates began keeping an illustrated diary, full of details about schoolwork, sports, pets, holidays, and health--as experienced from behind barbed wire.

Diary pages, archival photographs, and narrative nonfiction text convey the harsh changes experienced by the children, as well as their remarkable resilience.n