★"Powerful visuals…accompanied by clear, straightforward text, this arresting work brings history to vivid life. A bold combination of art, media, and records create a compelling read."
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
This important work of nonfiction features powerful images of the Japanese American incarceration captured by three photographers—Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams—along with firsthand accounts of this grave moment in history.
Three months after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the incarceration of all Japanese and Japanese Americans living on the West Coast of the United States. Families, teachers, farm workers—all were ordered to leave behind their homes, their businesses, and everything they owned. Japanese and Japanese Americans were forced to live under hostile conditions in incarceration camps, their futures uncertain.
Three photographers set out to document life at Manzanar, an incarceration camp in the California desert:
Dorothea Lange was a photographer from San Francisco best known for her haunting Depression-era images. Dorothea was hired by the US government to record the conditions of the camps. Deeply critical of the policy, she wanted her photos to shed light on the harsh reality of incarceration.
Toyo Miyatake was a Japanese-born, Los Angeles–based photographer who lent his artistic eye to portraying dancers, athletes, and events in the Japanese community. Imprisoned at Manzanar, he devised a way to smuggle in photographic equipment, determined to show what was really going on inside the barbed-wire confines of the camp.
Ansel Adams was an acclaimed landscape photographer and environmentalist. Hired by the director of Manzanar, Ansel hoped his carefully curated pictures would demonstrate to the rest of the United States the resilience of those in the camps.
In Seen and Unseen, Elizabeth Partridge and Lauren Tamaki weave together these photographers' images, firsthand accounts, and stunning original art to examine the history, heartbreak, and injustice of the Japanese American incarceration.
AWARENESS OF AMERICAN HISTORY: This impactful book engages with an underrepresented topic in American history, and highlights important and timely themes like primary sources, censorship, and visual literacy.
SUBSTANTIAL BACKMATTER: Featuring eighteen pages of backmatter, including an Author's and Illustrator's Note, footnotes, photo credits, biographies of each photographer, and more.
Perfect for:
Parents
Educators
Librarians
★"Powerful visuals…accompanied by clear, straightforward text, this arresting work brings history to vivid life. A bold combination of art, media, and records create a compelling read."
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
★ — “While author Partridge deftly exposes the injustices, illustrator Tamaki enhances the text with superbly resonating, gorgeously empathic illustrations.”
—Booklist, starred review
“[W]hat sets this one [book] apart is Partridge’s focus on how three different photographers visually documented their experiences in one camp. . . . Tamaki’s ink and watercolor illustrations create a cohesive whole that encompasses both the text and historical artifacts, while extending and deepening the visceral qualities of the narrative.”
—The Horn Book Magazine
“Any kid into graphic novels and comics is going to fall naturally into reading this factual history. The transition is almost seamless. As books about this moment in history go, Seen and Unseen has gotta be one of the most enjoyable I’ve ever encountered…a pleasure to read. The mix of illustration and photography is expertly done, the text never thick and dull. You are sucked into Partridge’s telling and Tamaki’s art from the get go…. History, photography, comic art, and a distinctly contemporary take on telling kids the truth about the past. What could be better?”
—Betsy Bird, School Library Journal
“Seen and Unseen portrays this assault on Japanese Americans with a powerful accuracy that all readers will benefit from experiencing.”
—Shelf Awareness
★ “In smartly contextualized prose, Partridge layers brief first-person accounts and facets of imprisonment. In fluid lines, Tamaki’s mixed media artwork illustrates the events…. Extended back matter, including an essay on the model minority myth, concludes this crucial, perspective-interested work.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
★ “[An] exquisitely crafted, fiercely provocative work of nonfiction...The book's true power, however, comes in its ability to show and not tell."
—BCCB, starred review
Common Sense Media Families Selection Pick