AUTHOR OF 'BEST FRIENDS FOREVER' CREATED BOOK AFTER INTERVIEWING LONG-TIME NATIONAL MUSEUM VOLUNTEERS

Best Friends Forever: A World War II Scrapbook author Beverly Patt will read from her book and talk about her research to create a work of fiction based on historical events at the Japanese American National Museum on Saturday, October 2, beginning at 2 p.m.

The story concerns two young girls, Louise Krueger and Dottie Masuoka, who find themselves separated by the government’s unconstitutional forced removal of Japanese Americans during World War II. With her best friend held in a domestic concentration camp far away, Louise builds a scrapbook of letters, journal entries, photos and newspaper clippings, which she hopes to give to Dottie when she returns home.

Patt, who confessed that she knew virtually nothing about the mass incarcerations of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry by the U.S. government, said she "was appalled that I’d never been taught anything about it. My hope is that Best Friends Forever: A World War II Scrapbook will find its way into every classroom in America and will help to educate our young people and will stimulate discussions relating race, prejudice and what it means to be an American."

To bring authenticity to her book, Patt consulted two Japanese Americans who lived through the experience: National Museum volunteers David and Margaret Masuoka (note that the young Japanese American girl was named for the Masuokas). Explained Patt, "I can’t tell you how much I relied on their first-hand knowledge and experience! We corresponded for probably two years, back and forth."

Louise also has her trials in the book, attacked as a "Jap-lover" and for her German ancestry, despite her older brother’s enlistment in the U.S. Armed Forces. The theme of patriotism figures prominently in the book.

Best Friends Forever recently received a starred review in School Library Journal and was named to the Alan County Mock Newbery list. Beverly Patt has also written, Haven, and is currently working on a modern-day novel about a boy whose band has gotten back together without him. An interview with Beverly Patt is online at http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2010/9/16/beverly-patt/.