50books_poc | 5. A New School for Susan

Yoshiko Uchida published A New School for Susan in 1951, and I read it out of historical interest as much as anything else: what were the yay!multiculturalism books of the fifties like?

This one, at least, is a very stereotypically fifties children’s book: happy little boys and girls attending their happy little school, where they draw cheerful little pictures under the watchful eyes of their cheery teacher and jolly principal. It’s just that instead of featuring little blonde girls named Sally and Sandy and Susan, the Susan in this book is Japanese-American.

This book might be the most frictionless thing I’ve ever read. No arguments, no conflicts of any kind, certainly no mention of racism or the Japanese internment camps – which would have been a pretty raw memory in 1951, so I can’t blame Uchida if she didn't want to write about it. But still, not even any arguments?

So I can't recommend the book on its intrinsic merits, but it really was interesting as a historical artifact - especially if you compares it to Uchida's later books, like Journey to Topaz, which is all about the Japanese internment camps.