Bookish Bliss: Lois Sepahban Recreates Infamous Internment Camp Manzanar in 'Paper Wishes'

Paper Wishes is Dry As Sand &Thin As Tissues

Paper Wishes Goodreads synopsis:

Ten-year-old Manami did not realize how peaceful her family's life on Bainbridge Island was until the day it all changed. It's 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Manami and her family are Japanese American, which means that the government says they must leave their home by the sea and join other Japanese Americans at a prison camp in the desert. Manami is sad to go, but even worse is that they are going to have to give her dog, Yujiin, to a neighbor to take care of. Manami decides to sneak Yujiin under her coat, but she is caught and forced to abandon him. She is devastated but clings to the hope that somehow Yujiin will find his way to the camp and make her family whole again. It isn't until she finds a way to let go of her guilt that Manami can accept all that has happened to her family.

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Some middle grade novels are distinctly middle grade: written in simple prose with straightforward and uncomplicated language. It’s not particularly pretty and can err towards juvenile. To some this kind of prose is plain. Maybe even bald. Other middle grade fiction takes a different tack and can be wildly imaginative, whimsical and vibrant with details and dialogue that zings. (I’m looking at you Fablehaven and Rooftoppers).  Sooo friends, you know I’m always the one to tell you how it is when it comes to the books I read. Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban is the former.

When our young protagonist Manami gets the startling news that she, her grandfather and her parents are going to be evacuated from their beloved island in Washington state she desperately clings to the most precious thing in her life: her small white dog Yujiin.

In transit to the relocation centre Manami's plan to smuggle her four-legged tail-wagging best friend is foiled by eagle-eyed American soldiers and Yujiin is confiscated. Cue the heart break.

Cast out into the dry and desolate California desert and living in cramped barracks without her pooch Manami doesn’t just lose her privacy and personal space. She also loses her voice along with Yujiin. Even her friend Kimmi and her older brother Ron aren’t able to break through Manami's barriers. Paper Wishes is told by Manami’s thoughts and actions. Not what she says. Unlike many of the action-based middle grade novels with compelling plots, Paper Wishes is slow and thick, like treacly molasses dripping off a spoon. It’s. Very. Slow.

Friends, I have a confession: I wasn’t sure if I was going to finish the book, largely because it was so so so simple and operates on telling-not-showing. Sepahban doesn’t use many sensory details in her narrative which is a real shame because so much could be brought to the table to make this a more animated novel.

There are so many missed opportunities to really show us what daily life was like in Manzanar instead of just telling us that it’s dry, dusty and hot.  The details and descriptions are sparse and the voice in Paper Wishes is very quiet and subdued. Some of this may be because Manami is depressed. One of the biggest themes here is loss so it only makes sense that Manami’s mental health would be impacted. Possibly Sepahban specifically did this to show how Manami is deliberately not taking in the environment around her?? But even then, it has a blandness and flimsiness that made me ask myself several times “ehh do I really want to keep reading this?”

The few characters that play pivotal roles in Paper Wishes are very lightly sketched out and one-dimensional. The dialogue is basic and uninteresting. None of the characters have personalities or traits that make them stand out. To give you the gist of what they were like, pause for a moment and tell me what you think of when you hear the word: beige. All of the characters in Paper Wishes are tissue paper thin and shades of beige in basicness and blandness. Their conversations are like back and forth dialogue in plays but even more simplistic.  

So friends, why did I keep reading? Not only is Paper Wishes under 200 pages but  Manami herself also is was kept me reading. To see how she’d overcome her grief. To see how she’d overcome her muteness.

But ultimately, Paper Wishes didn’t resonate with me or evoke much of an emotional reaction. I’m not the target audience for this book and it’s especially obvious here. Here the younger the reader, the higher the impact: 8 to 11 year old independent readers are that audience. For children first learning about Executive Order 9066 this could be a very eye-opening novel. To see the harsh decision made by President Roosevelt, a man who ought to be a thoughtful leader looking out for the best of Americans enacted such a dark and hurtful order is enough to crack young readers  rosy coloured glasses. To get them thinking.

For these young readers Sepahban’s writing is accessible. It’s not cynical or scary. It’s a nugget of history laid out plain and simple, and is discussion fodder --either in the classroom, or amongst friends, caregivers, parents, or guardians-- for young readers. Flavourless as it is, it’s a decent first-read featuring Japanese internment camps.

As an adult though, this left me rather ‘meh’ and unsatisfied.  Over five years ago I read the novel Farewell to Manzanar which was published in 1972 by Jeanne Wakatsuki. Jeanne was physically present in the internment camp from the time she was seven until the time Japanese-Americans were released from this metal fence enclosed desert prison.

Farewell to Manzanar Wakatsuki’s nonfiction recollection of growing up in such an inhospitable land, locked away from her neighbors, friends and other peers hit me hard in the heart and has stayed with me. Yes. I still can recall so many specific details about the years  Jeanne and her family spent enclosed in Manzanar. It flipped a switch inside me and made me even more eager and interested to read about Asian women’s and Asian american women’s experiences. And today, I avidly read such books.

So is Paper Wishes recommended?

For the youngest of readers: yes.

For tweens, teens, and adults: nope. You’re better off with Farewell to Manzanar