Memoir of growing up in and in the shadow of the Japanese Internment camps. Provides many glimses of daily life in Manzanar. Shows the development of Manzanar from a fenced cluster of rough barracks to a something like a community complete with schools, gardens, and farms, and finally to an abandoned spot by the side of Highway 395. Ko Wakatsuki reminds me of a cross between Pa from Little House and my own grandfather. Like Pa, he was always moving the family to start some new scheme or business. Like my granddad, he was a bit of a tyrant and you never knew when he'd roll up in a new car. I was surprised at how early the authorities wanted to close the camp down, considering that Manzanar wasn't officially closed until December 1945. It seems that by 1944, Japanese-Americans could (and were maybe encouraged to?) get permission to leave the camp and move away from the West Coast, and the Dec 1 1945 close date was set by the end of 1944. I like Jeanne's descriptions of Manzanar's progressive state of abandonment throughout 1945. Makes me wonder if JG Ballard ever read Farewell to Manzanar. Makes me want to read more personal accounts and histories of the internment camps, and also visit Manzanar.