Finding Moon Rabbit

Gold medal winner of the Independent Book Publishers Association's Ben Franklin Award for the best young reader novel of 2022, Finding Moon Rabbit was positively reviewed in leading publishing industry magazines Kirkus Reviews and Foreword Review, Kirkus called Finding Moon Rabbit, "A sincere novel providing insight into the lives of Japanese Americans during World War II." Foreword said, "Subtle in honoring human resilience, Finding Moon Rabbit is a valuable historical novel that examines internment through a girl’s fears and wishes."

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 family's 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. Koko's one desire is to see her father again, or, until that time, to at least receive a letter from him. Many details of camp life are explored, including the formation of Girl Scout troops, domestic life, relationships with camp guards and the surrounding communities, and with the tortured tension of imprisoned Japanese citizens trying to maintain faith in the adopted country. Finding Moon Rabbit contains a number of original, contemporaneous sketches of the camp and camp life, along with other historical documents such as newspaper articles.