Finished: When The Emperor Was Divine (Otsuka) A vivid, heartbreaking YA book that has been banned from middle and high school reading lists. A Japanese American mother and her two young children are ripped from their home in California, are reclassified as enemy aliens and sent to an incarceration camp. The father had already been taken in the middle of the night after Pearl Harbor was bombed, and imprisoned in Texas. The horrific conditions of the camp, and the terrible treatment of their belongings and home when they finally return are awful to read. Not to mention how former friends have turned their backs on them. What a terrible, terrible ordeal for these American people! The book could have had a bit more substance and character development, but there is no shading over the horror of the situation. What a terrible time in American history, a time that students today should definitely be learning about. I shake my head at so many of the banned books in this day and age!