Unbreakable: A Japanese American Family in an American Incarceration Camp

Questions fill Min’s mind. 

How can they lock us up when we haven’t done anything wrong? 

MINORU “MIN” TONAI, a young American citizen, and his family must leave everything behind as they are rounded up and unjustly imprisoned following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. From 1942 to 1945, Min, his mother, and his siblings are sent to an incarceration center in Colorado called Amache, surrounded by barbed wire and guarded day and night by armed soldiers. In Unbreakable, the powerful book Min and his friend Jolene Gutiérrez wrote together, Min’s strength is symbolized by the small, smooth stone his father gives him before being led away by FBI agents. 

This book captures the harshness of the incarceration camp and the resourcefulness of those who were unjustly imprisoned, as well as the joyful reunion of Min and his papa. By sharing this compelling and inspiring real-life story, it was always Min’s and Jolene’s wish to keep a brutal chapter in history from being forgotten so it will never be repeated.