Stars in the Window

STARS IN THE WINDOW is an historical novel written for middle grade readers. When eleven-year-old Jessie meets Mrs. Sakamoto her life is changed. It is 1943 and the U.S. is at war with Japan. Jessie's Dad is an officer on a ship in the Pacific. When Mom hires Mrs. Sakamoto to help in the family flower shop, Jessie finds a warm friend who teaches her about chopsticks, Ikebana flower arranging, and origami. Mrs. Sakamoto had been released from Amache, a Japanese internment camp, and Jessie struggles to understand the difference between an enemy and her Japanese-American friend. The story depicts life on the U.S. home front during WW II, with rationing, blackouts, and victory gardens. The reader will also relate the story to present day prejudice and response to cultural and racial diversity, fear of those who are national enemies, and a pre-adolescent culture that involves snubbing and cliques. Imbedded in the story are parallels with today in conservation and recycling, suspicion of Muslims, and need to understand and relate to members of a culture different from mainstream America.

Anne Alexander Bingham is the author of "Exploring the Multi-Age Classroom" published by Stenhouse, 1995, and is based on her experience as a teacher in the Shelburne, Vermont Village School Multi-Age program, Grades 1 - 3, from 1972 to her retirement in 1993. She earned a Master's Degree from the University of Vermont as a reading specialist. As a child during World War II she lived in Boulder, Colorado where her father Gordon Alexander was a biology professor at the University of Colorado. Anne grew up in a family with very strong connections to Thailand where her father taught biology from 1928 to 1930 in a Rockefeller Foundation program to establish a pre-medical curriculum at Chulalongkorn University. Anne's parents sponsored many Thai students in their studies at the University after the war and they were frequent guests at her home. A Japanese-American university student, Kisa Noguchi was living with Anne's family at the time of Pearl Harbor.