I just started reading Stubborn Twig, this year’s Everybody Reads pick (and also the adult book choice for the state-wide Oregon Reads campaign; see editor’s note below). It’s not quite as gripping as the last book I read (The Other Boleyn Girl – GO. GET. IT. NOW! Sex, love, power, political intrigue, history – that book has it all!), but I’m pleasantly surprised at how interesting I’m finding it.
The nonfiction Stubbon Twig, written by U of O professor Lauren Kessler, is about three generations of Japanese Americans, the first of whom settled in Hood River in the early 1900’s. It’s obvious that Kessler did an amazing amount of research before writing the book, with details about every aspect of life back then.
A good companion book for older elementary kids is Under the Blood Red Sun by Graham Salisbury, another Oregon author. My daughter and I just finished reading it for our book group, and while I didn’t think it was a beautiful piece of fiction, it did do a good job of relating what life was like for a Japanese family living on Oahu at the time Pearl Harbor was bombed.
My daughter also really liked Weedflower, by Cynthia Kadohata, about a Japanese American girl whose family is sent to an internment camp. I missed out on that one, because my husband read it with her, darn it!
If you’re reading Stubborn Twig, I’d love to know what you think of it!
Submitted by Anne

Editor’s Note: Here’s some additional information about Multnomah County’s Everybody Reads program and the state-wide Oregon Reads campaign:
Local libraries are celebrating Oregon’s 150th birthday by encouraging everyone to read the same books about Oregon. The Oregon Library Association has picked Stubborn Twig by Lauren Kessler as the adult book selection (Stubborn Twig is also Multnomah County Library’s Everybody Reads book for 2009). Stubborn Twig explores the Japanese experience in Oregon, including the World War II internment camps. The books for younger readers are Virgina Euwer Wolff’s Bat 6 and Apples to Oregon by Deborah Hopkinson. Local libraries and book stores are holding special craft, storytelling, musical and performance events tied to these engaging books. Check Metro Parent’s February Family Calendar and your local library’s Web site for many other Oregon Reads and Everybody Reads events.
Click here to visit Washington County Cooperative Library System’s Oregon Reads page.
Click here to visit Multnomah County Library’s Everybody Reads page.

January 26th, 2009 | Category: Metro Parent