The Best Bad Thing

The Best Bad Thing
By Yoshiko Uchida

This book tells the story of Rinko, a Japanese American girl growing up in California during the 1930’s. The story begins with Rinko reluctantly having to spend the last month of her summer vacation helping out a recently widowed (and rumored to be crazy) Mrs. Hata and her two boys (Zenny and Abu) on their cucumber farm. While she is there many bad things happen: Rinko sprains her ankle; Abu is hospitalized with his arm; Mrs. Hata’s truck is stolen and loses her source of income; and the welfare department threatens to make Mrs. Hata move to the city. By the end of the summer everything works out and Rinko grows very close to Mrs. Hata and her family and decides that spending her last month of summer vacation was the “best bad thing” of all.

I liked this book because it gave a realistic view of what life was like in California for Japanese American immigrants during the 1930’s. My positive reaction to this book was influenced by the fact that I like reading historical fiction about immigrants who come to America to make a new and better life for themselves, especially when there is a happy ending as in this book. Yoshiko Uchida’s books are typically realistic depictions of early Japanese American immigrant life in the United States. I am looking forward to reading another book of hers: The Bracelet. This book is about the Japanese American internment camp during WWII, an actual event in Yoshiko’s life.

I have learned from reading this book that telling a story from the view point of a child is a very moving, effective, and memorable way of learning about the history, culture, traditions, hopes, and values of the early immigrants.