Returning the Sword - by Caren Stelson (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

In 1945, just after the end of World War II, Captain Orval Amdahl brought home a Japanese sword as a souvenir of war. Sixty-eight years later, he gave it back.

Orval Amdahl grew up in rural Minnesota and enlisted in the Marines during World War II. In August 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending the war. Soon after, Orval's division was sent to keep the peace in Nagasaki, and the devastation he witnessed there haunted him. When he returned home, he tried to move on, but he couldn't forget the war--or the sword. And many years later, at the age of ninety-three, he got a chance to do something incredible. He met with the family of the soldier who had owned the sword and returned it to them.

A powerful story of war, peace, and reconciliation from author Caren Stelson and illustrator Amanda Yoshida.

Review Quotes

"With simple, realistic illustrations, this picture book tells Amdahl's story soberly and with utmost respect. . . . A clear-eyed, compelling recollection of one soldier's story."--Kirkus Reviews

"Stelson writes with vivid clarity, rendering a story with careful detail while bolstering themes of peace and honor. Working in harmony with Stelson's text, Yoshida's vibrant illustrations are wreathed in symbolic imagery and color those themes with gestures of reconciliation."--Booklist