Weedflower and The Bracelet

Weedflower and The Bracelet were both good historical fictions books. They portrayed the stories of Japanese-American girls placed in American concentration camps. Sumiko was teased at school and finally made a real friend at the camp. The Bracelet's main character is Emi, and she had a best friend, whom gave her a bracelet as a going away gift. I felt a strong connection with both characters.
Like Sumiko, I was teased in school for being different. Sumiko was teased for her race, and I was teased because my family was poor. I grew up with many good friends in my neighborhood, but I did not know what a good friend really was until I met Ginni. If the Japanese would not have bombed Pearl Harbor, Sumiko would not have met an Indian boy named Frank, and if Katrina would not have hit, I would not have met Ginni. We both had to say goodbye to our friends in the end.
Emi reminded me of my friend, Sahara. She lived in my neighborhood, and we were really good friends. One day September 11th happened and idiots started to harass Sahara and her family. Sahara's family constantly had to pick trash off their lawn. Even though Sahara did not move to a concentration camp, her parents would not let her out play. They were afraid someone would try to hurt her. She was a prisoner in her own home. Eventually, her family could not take the abuse anymore and sold their house.
I never really understood what the Japanese-Americans' went through until now. I grew up knowing that the United States had concentration camps for the Japanese-Americans, but I did not care. They were not slaughtered like the Jews. I went through Katrina, so I know what type of mental toll it takes to be forced to leave everything behind. At least people were nice to the evacuees; Japanese-Americans faced a ton of racism.