The Girl with the White Flag

by Tomiko Higa

Other authorsDorothy Britton (Author)
Paperback, 2013

Description

New York Newsday called this memoir of a warhood childhood in Japan one of the saddest and yet most uplifting books about childhood you will ever encounter.' Separated from her family in the confusion and horror of World War II, seven-year-old Tomiko Higa struggles to survive on the battlefield of Okinawa, Japan. There, as some of the fiercest fighting of the war rages around her, she must live alone, with nothing to fall back on but her own wits and daring. Fleeing from encroaching enemy forces, searching desperately for her lost sisters, taking scraps of food from'

Publication

Kodansha International (2013), Edition: 1, 132 pages

User reviews

LibraryThing member theresa2011
Any serious WWII historian should read this book. Okinawa is often overlooked, but the devastating toll that the war took on the island's population is painfully obvious in this account told in the voice of a young civilian girl.
LibraryThing member bikerevolution
When I bought this at Goodwill, there was a note inside it that read,

Kristy 2000,

Remember how you felt when you first read this book? Read it again.

-Kristy 1997

That single-handedly made me wanna read this. The writing itself isn't that amazing (that could also be due to its translation), but the
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narrative is. An autobiography by a Japanese native, this is her account of how she survived one of the deadliest bombing sprees in occupied-Japan during WW2. Separated from her parents (and eventually her siblings), she is left to wander around the country side, avoiding bombs and searching for food and shelter.

Holy shit, I cried so much. Yeah, its hard to read about the atrocities of war, especially how it affects children, but sometimes we have to force ourselves to get outside of our comfort zones and listen to other people's lived histories if we want to become smarter, more compassionate people.
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LibraryThing member moonbridge
Painful and amazing story of a little girl's survival of the battle of Okinawa. Little miracles amidst the mayhem.
LibraryThing member miyurose
Tomiko’s story is sad and heartwarming at the same time. She shows us a side of World War II that we rarely hear about… the plight of the Japanese people. What’s most amazing is how she surived, mostly on her own, at only 7 years old. We often forget about how war affects the youngest among
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us. This is a quick read, and well worth the time.
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LibraryThing member sariko
I met Higa san when her book was first published in English--I started crying before I could speak--thinking of what that lovely, smiling woman had suffered as a child. This is a part of the Battle of Okinawa that is seldom told--in fact, the Okinawan civilians are seldom mentioned, even as
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statistics. Everyone who lives/lived/will live on the island should read this book and realize that the very old faces one sees today all have stories from their
survival of the war.
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Awards

Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 1992)

Language

Original language

Japanese

Physical description

7.4 inches

ISBN

9781568365312
Page: 0.5982 seconds