Dear Miss Breed

Book Focus - February 2006

Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During World Was II and a Librarian Who Made a Difference
By Joanne Oppenheim
0-439-56992-3; $22.99; Scholastic Nonfiction; Ages 12 & up

Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During World War II and a Librarian Who Made a Difference, by Joanne Oppenheim, is published in February 2006 by Scholastic Nonfiction, an imprint of Scholastic. This book tells a remarkable story. Clara Breed (1906-1994) was the first children’s librarian at the San Diego Public Library, and when the many Japanese American children whom she knew were suddenly deported to camps, she kept up a correspondence with them, sending them care packages and books. The book is based on the many letters from the children she received in return, which are now in the collection of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.

Joanne Oppenheim has written a remarkable, fascinating, heart-rending work woven together from numerous letters, photos, and drawings, impeccably researched including appendix, source notes, bibliography and index. In the following article, Liz Szabla, Editorial Director of Scholastic Press, describes what it was like working with the author.

When Joanne Oppenheim approached me a few years ago with the idea for a biography on Clara Breed, Joanne was already deeply into her research for the project. I’m sure my eyes grew wider as she told me she’d already been in touch with several of Miss Breed’s “children” – survivors of the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Joanne’s interviewees had already entrusted her not only with testimony, but also with a treasure trove of unpublished personal photos and memorabilia.

Joanne “met” Clara Breed when she began looking for a Japanese American childhood friend online. She not only found her classmate, but also a story that needed to be told. Her research took her across the country as she met and interviewed survivors. She spent a great deal of time in California, not only meeting with individuals, but also mining the incredible resources housed at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, among other institutions.

Each time Joanne returned to New York, I received updates and progress reports, all of which I found intriguing. But I have to admit I wondered how she was going to weave all the great primary source material together. She was gaining access to such riches – letters, photos – and her interviews included memories that some of Miss Breed’s “children” hadn’t expressed before.

Then, in 2004, the first draft of the manuscript arrived. Its heft was daunting! I dug in, and soon found I couldn’t put it down. I was fascinated by the story told through the young Americans’ letters to Miss Breed and by the amazing oral histories Joanne had obtained. And I was most strongly moved by how timely and relevant the project was, given the fear and hysteria of our post-9/11 culture.

Streamlining the text was difficult for both of us; Joanne and I grew very fond of certain letters and correspondents. During that time, Joanne continued to discover source material of impressive historical value. The day she handed me a yearbook from the high school in the Poston internment camp, I was so awed at its significance I could barely bring myself to hold it, let alone turn its yellowed pages.

Dear Miss Breed is a book about injustice, but it is also a story with many heroes: Clara Breed had the courage to speak out against racial persecution; her “children” kept their courageous spirits in spite of their incarceration. Clara and her children have given us all a legacy we must never forget, and one we can grow from. As one of Miss Breed’s children, Liz Yamada, says in the foreword, “Thank you, Miss Breed. Thank you, Joanne Oppenheim.”