Flowers from Mariko - Paperback

by Rick Noguchi (Author), Deneen Jenks (Author), Michelle Reiko Kumata (Illustrator)

Choices, Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Parents' Choice Noteworthy Product, Parents' Choice Foundation

One girl's love and determination lift the spirits of her family after they are finally allowed to leave the internment camp they were placed in during WWII.

World War II is over and Mariko and her family are finally allowed to leave the camp. But the transition back into society isn't easy. Mariko's father longs to restart his gardening business, but his truck has been stolen. The family moves to a trailer park, where Mariko sees her parents are worried and their spirits are low. She has an idea to create happiness for her family by bringing gardening back into their lives.

Rick Noguchi and Deneen Jenks have written a moving story of how one girl's love and determination lift the spirits of her family. With affecting images of life after the Camps, Michelle Reiko Kumata captures an unforgettable story of hope, love, and perseverance, and plants it in readers' hearts.

Author Biography

Rick Noguchi and his wife, Deneen Jenks, are a husband and wife team who live in Culver City, California. Noguchi was formerly an administrator at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles and is currently a Program Manager, at the UCLA Extension Writers' Program. Flowers from Mariko is their first children's book.

Deneen Jenks and her husband, Rick Noguchi, are a husband and wife team who live in Culver City, California. Flowers from Mariko is their first children's book.

Michelle Reiko Kumata was a contributing artist to Lee & Low's America: A Book of Opposites/Un libro de contrarios. She earned a BFA in illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, and has been a staff graphic artist for the Seattle Times since 1995. She lives in Seattle, Washington.