Kiyo's Story

Kiyo's father arrived in California determined to plant his roots in the land of opportunity after leaving Japan. He, his wife, and their nine American-born children labored in the fields together, building a successful farm. Yet at the outbreak of World War II, Kiyo's family was ordered to Poston Internment Camp. This memoir tells the story of the family's struggle to endure in these harsh conditions and to rebuild their lives afterward in the face of lingering prejudice.“Vividly honest, deeply moving.”—Bill Hosokawa, Out of the Frying Pan: Reflections of a Japanese American

“It is a magnificent memoir, fully worthy of being compared to Farewell to Manzanar. I cannot praise its pointillist realism, its Zen-like austerity, highly enough. Exquisite.”—Kevin Starr,California : A History

“Taken simply as a family chronicle, it is moving and graceful. But it is also a powerful, thought-provoking historical document.”—James Fallows, Breaking the News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy 

"Kiyo's Story is unforgettable."—Sacramento News & Review

"Touching . . . an important portrait of a shameful period in American history."—Kirkus ReviewsKiyo Sato was raised on a farm in Sacramento, California. She was attending Sacramento Junior College at the outbreak of World War II, when her parents and eight siblings were evacuated and forced into the Poston Internment Camp. Her memoirs, Kiyo’s Story and Dandelion Through the Crack chronicle her family’s struggle to endure these harsh conditions and to rebuild their lives afterward in the face of lingering prejudice.