BARBED WIRED BETWEEN US: Kirkus The Most Anticipated Children’s Books of Spring 2026

I am excited to announce that Barbed Wire Between Us made Kirkus’ list of The Most Anticipated Children’s Books of Spring 2026!

Barbed Wire Between Us by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Violeta Encarnación

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. [picture book, ages 7 and up]

p.s. Related posts:

36 Japanese Internment Books for Kids & My Family’s Story

FORTUNE COOKIES FOR EVERYONE Geography Game featuring WWII Internment Sites!

158 Japanese American Books for Kids & Teens

5 Japanese American Picture Books Celebrating Joy Through Creativity

Sumo Joe at the Japanese American National Museum

FREE Immersive History Game about WWII Japanese Americans

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My books:

Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Fortune Cookies for Everyone! (Smithsonian): The Surprising Story of the Tasty Treat We Love to Eat

California Eureka Non-Fiction Gold Award
Junior Library Guild Gold Selection

Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Barbed Wire Between Us by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Violeta Encarnación

⭐ Starred review from Kirkus
Kirkus: The Most Anticipated Children’s Books of Spring 2026

Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

The Traveling Taco: The Amazing and Surprising Journey of Many of Your Favorite Foods

California Eureka Non-Fiction Silver Award
Reading Rockets’ Summer Reading Guide 2025

Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

We Sing from the Heart: How the Slants® Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court

ALSC Notable Children’s Book
2025 Carter G. Woodson Book Award Middle Level Honoree
Orbis Pictus Recommended Book for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children
2024 Julia Ward Howe Prize for Children’s Literature Winner
California Eureka Non-Fiction Award Honor Book
Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Winner (from National Council for the Social Studies and Children’s Book Council)
Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year 2025
Recommended Reading for the Social Justice Literature Award 2025 (International Literacy Association)
Junior Library Guild Gold Selection