Thank you to Nichi Bei for reviewing Barbed Wire Between Us by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Violeta Encarnación, and published by Red Comet Press.
BARBED WIRE BETWEEN US
Written by Mia Wenjen
Illustrated by Violeta Encarnación
New York: Red Comet Press, 2026
48 pp., $19.99, hardcover/paperback
“Barbed Wire Between Us” is a profound and deeply moving story of two girls connected by their parallel experiences of unjust incarceration. Separated by 80 years, both find themselves behind barbed wire. The first narrative follows a Japanese American girl growing up in the 1940s. “In this land of promise, we hoped to find a place to belong,” she reflects. Instead, she and her family are forcibly removed from their homes, bringing only what they could carry, their family separated, and placed into an incarceration camp at Fort Sill in Oklahoma.
The book then seamlessly segues into contemporary America. A second girl and her family come to the United States to start a new life “in this land of promise,” only to face the same fate: separation and imprisonment.
Japanese Chinese American author Mia Wenjen utilizes the reverso poem format as a powerful “metaphor for history repeating itself.” Created by poet Marilyn Singer, a reverso consists of two halves. The second half reverses the lines of the first, changing only punctuation and capitalization to deliver an entirely different meaning. One can tell Wenjen’s words were carefully chosen and historically grounded with the phrase “we came with only what we could carry.”
It takes on a dual meaning when read forward and backward. In the first half, it exposes forced removal and wartime incarceration, while the reversed second half evokes the hope and desperation of immigration. Wenjen deftly demonstrates how the past and the present are eerily similar.
Violeta Encarnación’s striking illustrations perfectly complement Wenjen’s verse. Created with a combination of traditional materials and digital media, she captures the gravity of each situation through somber settings. In contrast, Encarnación highlights each girl with specific colors: shades of gold for the Japanese American girl and shades of turquoise for the Latina girl, showing their internal resilience and hope. Encarnación’s visuals also show a knowledge of historical and current policies. In one image, the long shadows of American soldiers’ rifles loom over the despondent Japanese American girl boarding a train. In another, shadows of coyotes loom over handcuffed adults while the Latina girl carries a younger child.
“Barbed Wire Between Us” is an excellent resource for teaching students ages 5-12 about Japanese American incarceration and modern family separation and child Imprisonment. Wenjen and Encarnación put readers in the girls’ shoes, sparking conversations around empathy, kindness, and the importance of fighting for civil rights. The back matter includes historical information about Fort Sill and an author’s note regarding her family’s World War II experiences, though the book would feel more complete with additional context on the modern imprisonment of immigrant children.
For educators, this book offers versatile teaching options. When reading to primary-grade children, splitting the book into three sessions — the first half, the second half, and then a complete reading — helps scaffold the unique poetic structure. Upper elementary students can easily navigate the book independently or as a read-aloud. This powerful, necessary book belongs in every school library and classroom.
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