The Happiest Ending by Yoshiko Uchida

4th grade and up

I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to the characters in this coming-of-age story set in 1936 as the war years came upon them, for every character was Japanese-American, foreigners in their own homes because of their heritage. Rinko’s frustrations about the arranged marriage between 19-year-old Teru and 40-year-old Mr. Kinjo and her confusion about the difference between romantic love and romanticized love seem to pale in comparison to the lives I envisioned for them in the future. I could see Rinko’s brother Cal entering an all Japanese-American regiment to prove his loyalty. I could see Rinko herself, grown out of her 12-year-old awkwardness and into 18-year-old determination to become a school teacher, being yanked out of her freshman year of college to be sent along with her family and friends to an internment camp. I could see her father carefully packing the American flag he displayed so proudly on holidays into the meager collection of possessions he could carry with him as they left their homes and businesses amid their neighbors’ looks of fear and hate.

I could see all these things because I know the history of the time period, and so could feel anger at the indignities I knew would be coming for these characters whose lives depend on their honor and determination to help each other survive and succeed in their adopted country. I doubt this anger was what Uchida was aiming for when she wrote what is otherwise a run-of-the-mill contemporary realistic novel about the awkward pre-teen years. After all, the intended audience is those very tweeners who, in all likelihood, do not know the real-life history of Japanese-Americans. But in some way, I hope that reading Uchida’s books about the Japanese-American experience in America gives children some clues about the injustices of racial hatred. The constant worry that the children will not be able to achieve their dreams because no one will hire them and their occasional bitterness that they are not allowed to be citizens in the country they would live and die for are never overstated – the book is, after all, about Rinko’s growing sense of the fineries of relationships – but they do come up often enough to tempt readers to find out more about the conditions of 1936 Berkeley. Perhaps in learning about past injustices they may grow to avoid future ones.