Displacement

 

Displacement  

By Kiku Hughes  

Displacement is a semi-autobiographical graphic novel. Kiku is a 16-year-old girl on vacation in San Fransisco. Her Grandmother had lived in Japanese internment camps but died before Kiku was born so she does not know a lot about that aspect of her culture. When she hears Trump talking about banning Muslims from entering the US, she is ‘displaced’ in time and ends up waiting for her number to be called to enter an internment camp. She stays as one in California before being taken to a The Delta Internment Camp in Topaz, Utah. In the first camp, Kiku lives with a young woman named May. May is involved in resistance efforts, Kiku mentions that she never learned about resistance because all she was taught was that the people just took what was happening to them. This book teaches a lot of important history that is not taught in schools. It discusses a Loyalty Questionnaire that if two specific questions were both answered no, you would be sent to another camp. A throughline throughout the book is Kiku’s grandmother, Ernestina. She is at the same camps as Kiku and while they do not interact Kiku feels very connected to her. After she tries to contact her grandmother, Kiku is whisked back to the present day where no time has passed. She talks to her mother and her mother reveals she went through the same ‘displacement’. They end up diving into family history and they learn a lot. This book has themes of generational trauma, love, loss, and hope. It ties back to the recent past when republicans were trying to ban some religious groups from coming to the US. The book discusses the children being held at the Mexican border. This book is essential reading and needs to be in libraries.  

BIBLIO: 2020, Macmillian, Ages12-18, $17.99 

REVIEWER: Ella Frey  

FORMAT: Young Adult  

ISBN: 9781250193537