Love in the Library – A Book Event with Maggie Tokuda Hall
Sat, April 2
- Author Talk with Maggie Tokuda Hall and special guest Wendy Tokuda – 1 pm
- Book Sales & Signing – 2 pm
- Pre-Event Bento – 11:30-12:30 pm pick up and picnic outdoors at J-Sei.
To fall in love is already a gift. But to fall in love in a place like Minidoka, a place built to make people feel like they weren’t human-that was miraculous. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Tama is sent to live in a War Relocation Center in the desert. All Japanese Americans from the West Coast elderly people, children, babies-now live in prison camps like Minidoka. To be who she is has become a crime, it seems, and Tama doesn’t know when or if she will ever leave. Trying not to think of the life she once had, she works in the camp’s tiny library, taking solace in pages bursting with color and light, love and fairness. And she isn’t the only one. George waits each morning by the door, his arms piled with books checked out the day before.
Beautifully illustrated and complete with an afterword, back matter, and a photo of the real Tama and George-the author’s grandparents, Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s elegant love story for readers of all ages sheds light on a shameful chapter of American history.
Maggie Tokuda-Hall is the author of Also an Octopus, illustrated by Benji Davies, the novel The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea, and the graphic novel Squad. She lives in Oakland, California.
Yas Imamura is the illustrator of The Very Oldest Pear Tree by Nancy I. Sanders, Winged Wonders by Meeg Pincus, and other books for children. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
Wendy Tokuda (Special Guest) is an award-winning journalist who worked as a primetime anchor in local TV news for almost 40 years, primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area.
BOOK EVENT – details
11:30-12:30 pm – Pre-Event Bento Picnic – Pick-up To-Go or eat outdoors at J-Sei.
1:00-2:00 pm – Hybrid Book Event – an in-person or online reading. Limited seats are available. Contact jill@j-sei.org to reserve your seats. Participants must show proof of vaccination.
2:00 – 3:00 pm – Meet Author Maggie Tokuda Hall – book sales and signing to follow outdoors at:
J-Sei, 1285 66th Street, Emeryville (near Hollis St).
RSVP on Eventbrite
Buy A Book
Purchase your book at the event or pre-order book from Eastwind Books. Use coupon code “JSEI” at checkout. Indicate pick up on April 2nd at J-Sei or request shipping.
PRE-ORDER BENTO
With the spring season, we thought it would be fun to have you join the community for Pre-Event lunch outdoors.
Order from MY FRIEND YUJI.
Love In The Library Menu
Kids Huli Chicken & Salmon Donburi – $8
marinated huli chicken / salmon / macaroni salad / broccoli / rice
Tuna Poke over rice – $18
Loco Moco – $18
Lomi Opae – $9
Order from MY FRIEND YUJI.
Instructions: Click “Order Now”. Select pick-up times of 11:30, 12:00 or 12:30. Choose menu item. Add item. View order. Then, continue to payment.
Pick up at J-Sei, 1285 66th Street, Emeryville. Enjoy lunch outdoors.