My Dog Teny

My Dog Teny     By Yoshito Wayne Osaki,   Illustrated by Felicia Hoshino

Published by the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California 2010

Locally published, yet hard to get. It is not available through any of our usual book vendors, nor does Amazon carry it. My local neighborhood book store cannot special order this title. However, you can check out a copy through the SFPL. You can also purchase a copy directly from the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California. It is available both online and at the center in Japan Town.

This book needs a wider distribution!

This is a true story that was experienced by the author. It first appeared in a collection of short stories published by the JCCCNC in 2001 under the title “Our Side of the Fence “.  That version of the story ended when the author (a young boy at the time) was forced to part with his dog in 1942 when he was shipped to the Tule Lake concentration camp.

Fast forward to 2010 – the son of the picks up the story and updates it with subsequent events in the form of a picture book.

The story is as follows. When Wayne was a boy, his father gave him a puppy, which he promptly named Teny. Wayne and Teny were inseparable, and they were each other’s best friends. When the internment order was issued, Wayne was dismayed to find out that pets were not allowed in the internment camps. Since they could find no one willing to take care of a pet that was from a Japanese household, they simply had to abandon Teny.

In a heart rending sequence, Teny grows sad and despondent a few days before the family had to go to the camp. The author (the boy in the story) thinks that Teny somehow picked on the fact that he would be left behind. A day before leaving, Teny disappeared, and although Wayne looked everywhere for him, he couldn’t find him.

The next day, as Wayne climbs into the bed of the army truck that has come to take him to the internment camp, he gets on top of the baggage in order to try to see Teny one last time.  As the truck leaves and picks up speed, Teny bolts out from nowhere and attempts to catch up with Wayne. After about a mile, Teny is exuasted and can no longer keep up. That was the last time Wayne saw Teny.

Wayne spent the next 4 years at the Tule Lake (N. California) camp, and afterwards, he became an architect. After 49 years, he retired. Though his family wanted to send him on a trip to Japan or a cruise, all Wayne really wanted was another dog.

His family rescued an abandoned dog and gave it to Wayne. He promptly named him Teny.

Simply superlative! This book gets the highest recommendation possible from me. 

It would be a fantastic way to introduce students to this dark, and still very relevant part of our history. 

If you can, by all means secure a copy.