This week we focused a lot on Clara Breed Letters, and how they impacted the Japanese American children that stayed in contact with her during WW2. We read the beginning of the book “Dear Miss Breed”, by Joanne Oppenheim, which introduced many of the children who wrote with the librarian Ms. Breed, and their backgrounds. I specifically looked at a letter from Louise Ogawa written to Clara Breed. In this letter, Louise thanks Clara Breed for some items she sent to her, such as soap and books. It was really interesting to me to get an inside look at what Louise was going through, and I am interested in looking deeper into what some of the other children wrote to Clara Breed and what their experiences were. I’m considering making this part of my upcoming writing piece and presentation.
After my classmates and I each read one letter written by different children to Miss Breed, we shared out lines from our letters. Some common themes we found were hopefulness and positivity in the children’s letters, despite their current experiences. I wonder how they managed to do this. I do believe Clara Breed’s letters and gifts back and forth with the kids partly contributed to their mindsets, maybe was even the main reason for their optimism. I think it’s so amazing that one person could have such a large impact on so many individuals. I would like to do some more research on Clara Breed and read more of the letters written to her from the many children she helped during this time.
In addition to examining letters written to Clara Breed from these children during WW2, we have begun looking at Last letters from the Holocaust. I mainly focused on underground activist, Marianne Cohn, who I noticed shared many similar traits as Clara Breed. For one, both focused on helping the children. They were both selfless and wanted to make a difference in the world, even if it was seemingly small. Both are incredibly inspirational women.
