Finding Moon Rabbit: A War. A Camp. A Girl. A Letter

By J.C. Kato and JC2 (Jennifer Kato).

On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which forced 120,000 people of Japanese descent from their homes and into ten internment camps. Half were children. Heart Mountain, in Wyoming, was one of those camps. Finding Moon Rabbit is the story of one Japanese American family held at Heart Mountain. The story is told from the point of view of the familys youngest daughter, Koko. While Koko, her sister, and her mother are held at Heart Mountain, the father is incarcerated at a special prison camp in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where suspected Japanese American collaborators have been placed. Not much evidence was required. Kokos one desire is to see her father again, and until that time, to at least receive a letter from him. Finding Moon Rabbit contains a number of original, contemporaneous sketches of the camp and camp life, along with other historical documents such as newspaper articles.

Paper: 214 pp.

Gold medal winner of the Independent Book Publishers Association’s Ben Franklin Award for the best young reader novel of 2022.