Firsthand Stories of Internment and Artist Harmony Becker

The Goleta and Santa Ynez Valley Libraries would like to invite you to register for our upcoming Book to Action events. As part of the Book to Action community read featuring “They Called Us Enemy” by George Takei, we are announcing three special online presentations in May:

• June Aochi Berk spoke on Saturday May 1 on “Camp Rohwer Memories.” From age 10-13, Berk was incarcerated with her family in the Rohwer Japanese American Relocation Center in Arkansas. Watch a recording on YouTube.
• On Saturday, May 15 at 3:00 p.m. Sigrid Toye will speak on “Tuna Canyon Detention Station, and the History of German American Incarceration in the United States during WWII.” Toye will share with us her family’s experience of her father’s three years at Tuna Canyon Detention Station and will cover a brief history of German American incarceration during World War II. Register here.
• Artist and illustrator Harmony Becker will be featured on Saturday May 22 at 2:00 p.m.to speak about creating the artwork which is so much a part of George Takei’s graphic novel “They Called Us Enemy,” which was published by Top Shelf Productions in 2019. Sign up for this event here. 

The 2021 Book to Action program at the Goleta and Santa Ynez Valley Libraries centers around the themes of equity, diversity and inclusion found in George Takei’s autobiographical memoir They Called Us Enemy. The book uses the powerful format of graphic novel storytelling to bring to life George Takei’s childhood experiences as a Japanese American who was forced from his home into an internment camp during World War II. His story of courage and the challenges faced by his family spotlights issues of racism and injustice that remain at the forefront of global conversations today. Community members are invited to read this compelling book together and participate in engaging online programming that will honor this story and celebrate inclusion for all.

For more information and a schedule of all virtual events, visit the Book to Action page on our website at www.cityofgoleta.org/city-hall/goleta-valley-library/information/book-to-action. Copies are available to borrow through the library catalog and as a free, instant-download eBook in English and Spanish from Hoopla, as well as on Overdrive, two of the library’s popular streaming and download services.

Book to Action is a program of the California Library Association, supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.