Barbed Wire Between Us
Written by Mia Wenjen
Illustrated by Violeta Encarnación
Published by Red Comet Press
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 presen
Primary ISBN: 9781636551920
Publication Date: March 2026
Available As: Hardcover, eBook
Picture Book , Age 07 or older
Community Represented: Japanese/Japanese American, Unspecified (Hispanic/Latinx/Latine)
Themes: Accolades & Awards, Accolades & Awards: Starred Review, Detention & Deportation, Discrimination: Immigration Status, Discrimination: Racial, Family Relationship: Parents, Family Separation: By Detention, Genre: Historical, Genre: Poetry, Human Rights Violation: Abduction & Internment, Immigrant: Economic, Immigrant: Undocumented, IYNB Recommends: ASCA School Counselors 2026, IYNB Recommends: Justice & Belonging, Own Voices/Lived Experience, Trauma & Healing
Setting: United States (Lawton OK)
Character's Place in the Immigration Journey: Immigrant
Book Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience
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