Write To Me

Write To Me

Picture book
"Katherine Tasaki returned a stack of library books and turned
in her library card. 'We've got to move soon,' she said. 'All
Japanese, you know.'"
Imagine you're a child like Katherine. Because of your national
origin you have to leave your home, your school, your
neighborhood...all you've ever known. You don't know if you'll ever
return. You can only take with you what you can carry. You and your
family must go to a prison camp surrounded by barbed wire with guards
required to shoot on sight anyone who tries to escape. You're all
crammed inti one small room. Food and all essentials are in short
supply.
One woman, Clara Breed, children's librarian of a San Diego
library, did her best to stay in contact with her lost children. Her
steadfast caring and generosity are the subject if Cynthia Grady's
Write To Me.
Miss Breed gave the children penny postcards. When they wrote
back she was able to send them books and gifts and more postcards.
They were able to share their experiences with someone who really cared.
Many years later, getting ready to move, Miss Breed found a box
of over 250 postcards and letters she'd received from the children. A
number of them form the text of this poignant and thought provoking
book.
On a personal note, my partner has this fenced in garden beside our
front porch. He doesn't eat tomatoes. He picks them out of
sandwiches and burgers. But he knows I love them. Every year he
plants tomatoes and pollinator attracting flowers. He tries different
varieties. One year we had brown ones that tasted faintly like
chocolate. Well Wednesday when I went outside I saw the garden weeded
and planted. My heart was flooded with a surge of tenderness.
A great big shout out goes out to Eugene. I surely won the partner
lottery.
jules hathaway



Sent from my iPod