<Begin Segment 19>

TI: Well, in general, what has the reaction been from, first, the Japanese American community? Have you heard much?

JO: You know, I don't, I haven't heard terribly much. I mean, the people who come to my readings are people who like the book and doing book tour on the West Coast, often after a reading, a few older internees would come up to me and tell me, and thank me for writing the book, and I just feel like I should be thanking them. But I, I don't actually know what the overall response has been in the Japanese American community. I can't, I can't really say. And also, I, I mean this probably sounds strange, but I don't, I don't know any Japanese Americans in my New York life, and the ones that I know here on the West Coast are all relatives. So I'm not really in touch with the Japanese American community, so I actually don't know.

TI: So places like Berkeley, where the story takes place, they haven't done much in terms of the community, in terms of reading it and talking about it?

JO: I don't know. I mean, not, not that I've heard of. I really have no idea. I don't know.

TI: And the other question in terms of reactions, how about schools? I'm curious, like in, like, middle schools and high schools, have you heard much response from, from those areas?

JO: I, it was recently approved by a New York City committee that has to approve, I guess, all books that are assigned to high school students have to be pre-approved. So the book has been approved, it's on their list, and teachers have started assigning it to the kids in the New York City public schools. I don't know about other school districts. I actually, a friend of mine who's Japanese American -- I actually met him in the emergency room when I went there with my mother to take her to the ER room, she'd fallen down. And it turns out the ER doctor -- and she, of course, was talking about me to the ER doctor -- and it turns out that his father was the exact same age as the boy in the book, and was also in Topaz and had gone through those same experiences. And he did a, I think an informal study of the school districts or schools in the L.A. area and found that almost none of them even, even taught about the internment in the history classes, not to mention English classes. But I still think that it's something that's not, that's really not too talked about. And even learning about what's going on in Bainbridge Island is interesting. The teacher there was saying that up until now, that the internment had been given maybe a brief paragraph in the history books, and there's so much history right there on the island. So I don't know if it's being used more in schools now or if it will be. I'm hoping that it will be.

TI: Because I was thinking especially, I mean, I know quite a few schools use Farewell to Manzanar --

JO: Right.

TI: In both middle school and high school, and I would think that this would be another good option for, for teachers to use. I'm just curious if there was any, any sort of traction in that way. Maybe it's still early.

JO: Well, I know it's being used, it's been chosen by several college campuses as the book for incoming freshmen to read over the summer, but I don't know about, I don't know about junior high and high school. Although I learned when I was, I was out in Topeka, Kansas, for Topeka Reads, they'd chosen the book, and I was talking to the librarian there, and I didn't know this, but I guess every book, maybe, that is assigned to young people is assigned a grade level, and she told me that the language in my book was sixth-grade level. [Laughs] Which, and the content was ninth grade so -- which was surprising, but I guess not that surprising because I think my vocabulary is very Hemingway-esque and pared down. But I thought, "Sixth-grade level? Okay." [Laughs] It was just funny.

TI: Yeah, no, because after reading the book, I did recommend it to my son's, my son's school. He's in high school right now but the middle school teachers often have me come in and talk, and I suggested that they look at, at your book in addition to Farewell to Manzanar, or as another option for that. So I was just curious, because I thought it was really appropriate for middle and high school also, in addition to college. So just, I was just curious.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2005 Densho. All Rights Reserved.