Hello Maggie!

INDEPENDENCE, Inyo County — Former internees Shig Yabu and Willie Ito will present their recently published children’s book, Hello Maggie, at the Manzanar National Historic Interpretive Center on Sunday, Feb. 17, and Monday, Feb. 18.

The book is an account of Yabu’s experience raising a wild magpie while interned as a 10-year-old boy at the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center in Wyoming. Ito, who illustrated the book, was 8 years old when his family was sent to the Topaz War Relocation Center in central Utah.

While in camp, Ito began developing cartoon skills that led to a 45-year career as an animator working with Walt Disney and Hanna-Barbera.

Yabu and Ito’s appearance commemorates Feb. 19, the Day of Remembrance, which is the anniversary of the date in 1942 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, leading to the internment of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans.

Yabu and Ito will sign copies of the book in the Manzanar History Association bookstore beginning at 11a.m. on Sunday and Monday. At 1 p.m. both days, Yabu will make a presentation based on the book with Ito illustrating the characters from the book.

Informal children’s reading circles will take place Sunday and Monday with Yabu and Ito available to meet with visitors.

The program is free and open to the public. The Manzanar National Historic Site Interpretive Center is located at 5001 Highway 395, six miles south of Independence.

For more information on the program, call (760) 878-2194 or visit the Manzanar National Historic Site’s website at www.nps.gov/manz.