A powerful reverso poem about two girls separated by barbed wire and 80 years of history
Barbed Wire Between Us is a powerful reverso poem that tells two deeply resonant stories across time. It begins with a Japanese American girl sent to an internment camp in Oklahoma during World War II. Read in reverse, it reveals the journey of a Latina girl detained in the very same camp decades later, during the U.S. policy of migrant family separation. Harrowing and emotionally charged, this poetic narrative compels us to confront a haunting question: What have we truly learned in the past 80 years about how we treat the most vulnerable among us? With haunting symmetry and striking parallels, Barbed Wire Between Us is a moving meditation on justice, memory, and the echoes of history that still shape our present.
Praise
? “A haunting dual narrative of imprisonment and family separation.” Starred Reveiw
—Publishers Weekly
? “A significant portrayal of ongoing U.S. civil rights violations, exposed through the experiences of young children.” Starred Review
—Kirkus Reviews
One of the most anticipated children's books of Spring 2026
—Kirkus Reviews
