Where: Edenvale Branch Library
When: Monday, September 10, 2012 at 4:00 PM

Join us for a fun filled family fiesta in celebration of Mexican Independence Day.

There will be stories and craft activities for the whole family.

Le invitamos a una fiesta familiar para celebrar las Fiestas Patrias Mexicanas.

Habra sesión de cuentos, y manualidades para toda la familia.

The story of Sylvia & Aki is based on true events in the lives of two young American girls whose paths cross at the start of World War II.  In alternating chapters we learn how Sylvia Mendez and Aki Munemitsu meet and how their lives are affected by World War II. 

Sylvia has just moved to Westminster, CA.  Her family is leasing a house and farm land from a recently relocated Japanese-American family.  Sylvia and her brothers are looking forward to attending the nearby Westminster School, but they’ve just been told they must attend Hoover school, the school for children from Mexican families.  The conditions at Hoover lead Sylvia’s father to file a lawsuit, which turns into a landmark court case eliminating the “separate but equal” doctrine as it applies to all schools in California.

Everyone in Aki’s family is a loyal American, but following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the attitude of Americans toward their Japanese-American neighbors change.  Soon Aki, her mother and older brother are sent to an internment camp in the Arizona desert called Poston.  Her father is imprisoned elsewhere since he is considered a “security risk.”  It is a comfort for Aki’s family knowing that the Mendez family is taking good care of their land and home, but Aki desperately misses her home and her friends at Westminster School.

Winifred Conkling interviewed both Sylvia and Aki for this book.  She also provides an extensive bibliography listing relevant materials and websites.  The Afterward includes historical information concerning the impact of both the internment of Japanese Americans and the Mendez lawsuit.