Page One:

Box one: Two fishermen, apart of a big corporation, are facing a financial crisis due to the lack of fish being caught

Box two: The Mom and Dad parent seals tell their children to not wander off, especially near the boat.

Box three: The two child seals encounter the fishing net near the boat and are immediately amazed.

Page Two:

Box one: The child seals are mesmerized with the soft material of the net without realizing they have been caught.

Box two: The parent seals attempt to grab the kids before the fishermen notice their children are inside the net.

Box three: The fishermen celebrate their huge catch while the seals all sense that something is wrong.

Page Three:

Box one: Without a care in the world about the seals well beings, the fisherman can only think about the amount of money he will make when he sells the seals to the aquarium.

Box two: The seals huddle together in the cage as they worry about where they are going.

Page Four:

Box one: Outside view of the aquarium the seals will be held in.

Box two: The aquarium worker helps one of the fishermen carry the cage of seals into the aquarium. The aquarium worker believes that these seals will bring a great deal of profit to the aquarium and tells the fisherman that he will earn a, “well deserved 600 bucks”.

Box three: The aquarium workers watch from above the tanks as the seals are lowered into the aquarium tank from their cage.

Box four: A little boy watches in amazement as the family of seals all stick together.

Page Five:

Box one: Large crowds of people gather around the tank containing the seal family. The seals always stay huddled together and look towards the people with fear.

Box two: The time is set towards six months into the future and there is only one boy looking towards the seal tank. The large crowds of people who used to look at the seals are now long gone.

Box three: The two aquarium owners decide to declare bankruptcy on behalf of the aquarium as they are only making $200 a month. This amount of money will not be able to fully care for the animals, pay the workers, or pay for the building itself.

Page Six:

Box one: The mother seal is unsure if her family should enter the cage that the aquarium workers are bringing up. With the already awful conditions, the father seal states that nothing could get worse than one meal a week and a dirty cage.

Box two: The seal family hesitantly enters the cage as they hold onto one another.

Page Seven:

Box one: The fishermen have begun their journey back to the sea to release the seals as they noticed their frail bodies.

Box two: The seal family is happily lowered back into the ocean from their cage.

Box three: As the boat departs from the sea, the mother seal instantly tells her children to always listen to her, especially when it involves a boat and nets.

Page Eight:

Box one: The time has now flashed forward fifteen years as the son seal now tells his children that their Grandpa and Grandma are the reason that they are alive today despite the tragic aquarium events. He states that their seal legacy must always be carried on in order to honor the bravery of the Grandpa and Grandma seals. The child seals listen in amazement and listen exactly to what the father says.

Box two: We are given an outside view of the ocean and the beautiful sun as we hear the seals from within saying, “We are finally free!”

We chose to incorporate seals within our story to depict what many Japanese Americans experienced within the internment camps and the awful treatment they were given. Although this book does not fully cover what the Japanese Americans went through, we wanted to ensure that anybody regardless of their age, would understand the harsh reality of being taken from your home and into an environment that is filled with the unknown. Our full condolences go out towards the Japanese Americans that stayed strong and brave through the rough times. If you would like to read more about the history of Japanese Americans and their time before, during, and after the interment camps, please click here: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/japanese-american-incarceration.

Story created and written by: Samantha Nicart

Story drawn and colored by: Katelyn Leach