Internment was an important novel about human rights, standing up for your rights and liberties, and the corruption that can happen within the government and those in power. I enjoyed, by enjoyed I do not mean happily enjoyed, it was difficult to read but an important subject to consider. The story was about Layla and her family as they were forced into an internment camp for Muslim’s that had answered the religion question on their Census honestly. The importance of young adults standing up for what they believe in and not letting their age stop them from doing so. I will be purchasing this for my personal library.

Whether used in a middle school class or in a book club at the library, this book has many important topics to discuss. Samira Ahmed’s narrative references the Japanese Internment Camps during World War II and parallels that historical atrocity to Layla’s experience, another comparison was to the Concentration Camps where Jews were persecuted and murdered for simply being Jews. The characters in the book responded in varied ways to their oppression and removal of their rights as American Citizens. Layla was afraid but did not let her fear stop her from standing up for what she believed in. Layla’s parents, David, Jake, and the other internees responded in many different ways as well, some of them were so fearful that they went along with everything, some even hated Layla and the other young adults for causing an upset in their camp. Another important topic would be how the United States allowed such atrocities to happen in the “Land of the Free” and to look at the possibility of such a thing happening here in America again. The parallel’s with the situations of unrest and mistreatment of minorities in America today makes the story extremely relevant.

I would not say that I particularly like the novel Butterfly Yellow but I did not hate it either. I liked the relationship between LeeRoy and Hằng, mainly because they were such an odd pair but complemented each other well and met in such an odd way. The story was slow and kept much of Hằng’s past a mystery right until the end (within the last 20 – 30 pages) which made it hard to hang on to finish the story. It was helpful that the story was a quick read which was most likely due to the short chapters. I found the dialog difficult to read when it was written in Hằng’s broken English and found the fixation on proper grammar quite odd and out of place. Some of the Vietnamese was translated and then later on written in English in italics. I would love to see more #ownstories from Asian perspective, more backstory would be interesting as well.

Thanhhà Lại brings much needed Asian representation to Young Adult literature with her novel, Butterfly Yellow. Hằng’s character suffers atrocities in her past that are slowly introduced to the reader by the end of the book. She escaped her country during the Vietnam War, lost her grandmother, father, mother, and came to America looking for her brother that was sent to America as a young boy at the end of the war. This novel could be used in a history class to compare a historical fiction story with actual historical events of what happened to the people who suffered through this war. It could also be used in comparison to other cultures that have suffered through wars. Readers with similar pasts, loss of family, relocating to a foreign country could all find themselves in the character of Hằng.

Are You My Mother? is a look into the authors relationship with her mother. She parallels the experience with her research on the psychoanalysis Donald Winnicott. The focus on the psychoanalysis is what lost me, while it parallels nicely, I don’t find the subject matter interesting. She spends a lot of time focusing on her meetings with her many therapists and their discussions about her mother. This book comes after her graphic novel about her relationship with her father, Fun Home, which was much more humorous and relatable.

Very interesting, coming of age tale about a young lesbian who grew up in a poor home in a time where it was not ok to be a lesbian.