Mira and Baku by Sara Truuvert

Mementos collected and stored embody the bonds between people and their memories of one another. From its years-long vigil on a shelf, a stone from the beach, worn and smooth, can bring back the smell of the ocean, the wind across the skin, the cry of a gull and the face of a loved one. Seemingly random keepsakes can ease a separation between loved ones, where even if only for a week or a month, the length of time can feel unbearably long.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese Canadians were forced to move inland from Canada’s west coast, a seemingly precautionary decision rooted in deep-seated historical systems of racism that saw about 21,000 people dislocated from both lives and livelihoods and banished east to the interior of British Columbia, Alberta and beyond, to internment camps and farms. Many families were separated, with the men being sent to work camps. These separations must have been unbearable for a child in times of war, with no end date in sight.

Sara Truuvert takes on this troubling experience in her book “Mira and Baku,” a story of a young girl counting the days until her birthday while worrying that her missing father won’t be there to mark the milestone. In a fanciful if disconsolate quest, Mira and her imaginary friend Baku attempt to find her father by searching places both familiar and only partially understood. Flying daily over western Canadian landscapes, returning to the city Mira once called home, they visit the empty stores and homes, and the confiscated boats, all remnants of Japanese-Canadian life on the coast and a testament to the displaced. The abiding image of the stone collection she shared with her father is a tangible reassurance as Mira works through her emotions and frustrations, each stone helping her remember shared memories and stories.

Teaching young children about the difficult periods in our history is essential to developing both a social consciousness and greater empathy, but age-appropriate books that present sensitive subject matter are not always immediately evident. Sara Truuvert’s “Mira and Baku” happens to be a notable exception. The book’s minimal textual descriptions are one of its greatest strengths, allowing Michelle Theodore’s evocative images to render Mira’s adventures with Baku all the more affecting. In the hands of a knowledgeable parent or teacher, this is a fantastic book for understanding perspective and drawing inferences; it is an exemplary reading experience for children in K-7.

Christina Barber

Christina Barber is a writer and educator who lives in Vancouver. An avid reader, she shares her passion for Canadian history and literature through her reviews on Instagram @cb_reads_reviews. She has most recently been committed to writing and staging formally innovative single and multi-act plays.

SARA TRUUVERT is a Canadian author of Japanese-Estonian descent. She grew up in Toronto and now lives in Ottawa, Ontario, where she writes everything from short fiction to poetry to science articles. Mira and Baku is her first picture book.

MICHELLE THEODORE is an illustrator born and raised under the prairie skies in Edmonton, Alberta. As a landlocked Yonsei, she often reminisces about coastal summers with family, inspired by her times on beaches collecting sand dollars and eating homemade salmon jerky.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Annick Press (Sept. 26 2023)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 44 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1773217569
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1773217567