Star Trek actor and political activist George Takei has a picture book scheduled for next spring that draws upon his early childhood years spent in internment camps for Japanese Americans.

Crown Books for Young Readers announced Wednesday that TakeiB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淢y Lost Freedom,B次元官网网址� illustrated by Michelle Lee, will be published April 30, 2024. Takei, 86, spent three years in three different camps during World War II. The camps were established after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order in 1942 authorizing the forced removal on the West Coast of those considered security risks, leading to the incarceration of more than 100,000 Japanese Americans.

B次元官网网址淢y childhood behind barbed wire fences is the reason I became an activist,B次元官网网址� Takei said in a statement. B次元官网网址淚t was clear that the story about the injustices Japanese Americans faced should also be told in a way that young children and their caregivers could understand. Especially in todayB次元官网网址檚 political climate, my mission is to convey this chapter of American history to children so that we can all grow up knowing both the fragility and the importance of democracy and our participation in it.B次元官网网址�

TakeiB次元官网网址檚 previous books include B次元官网网址淥h Myyy!: There Goes The Internet,B次元官网网址� about his substantial social media following, and the autobiography B次元官网网址淭o the Stars.B次元官网网址�

Crown Books for Young Readers is an imprint of Random House ChildrenB次元官网网址檚 Books.

The Associated Press