"As a boy, Chester Nez was taught his native language and culture were useless, but he was later called on to use his Navajo language to help create an unbreakable military code during WWII"--

"In March 1943, twenty-seven children began third grade in a strange new environment: the Topaz Relocation Center in Utah. Together with their teacher, Miss Yamauchi, these uprooted young Americans began keeping a classroom diary, with a different child illustrating each day's entry. Their full-color diary entries paint a vivid picture of daily life in an internment camp: schoolwork, sports, pets, holidays, health--and the mixed feelings of citizens...

During the Great Depression, Eleanor's family moves from America to Germany, but the war breaks out as her family is crossing the Atlantic, and for years Eleanor struggles to keep her American identity despite the turbulence and upheaval around her.

Illustrator James McMullan discusses how his early childhood in China and his wartime journeys with his mother influenced his life and career.