Returning the Sword

How a Japanese Sword of War Became a Symbol of Friendship and Peace

Author: Caren Stelson and Amanda Yoshida

Hardcover

Pre order release date
7th October 2025

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Pre order release date
7th October 2025

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Hardcover

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Description

In 1945, just after the end of World War II, Captain Orval Amdahl brought home a Japanese sword as a souvenir of war. Sixty-eight years later, he gave it back.

Orval Amdahl grew up in rural Minnesota and enlisted in the Marines during World War II. In August 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending the war. Soon after, Orval’s division was sent to keep the peace in Nagasaki, and the devastation he witnessed there haunted him. When he returned home, he tried to move on, but he couldn’t forget the war—or the sword. And many years later, at the age of ninety-three, he got a chance to do something incredible. He met with the family of the soldier who had owned the sword and returned it to them.

A powerful story of war, peace, and reconciliation from author Caren Stelson and illustrator Amanda Yoshida.

About the Author

Caren Stelson is an award-winning author of nonfiction books that focus on war and peace themes. She believes young readers want to know the truth about their world and how others find resilience and courage in difficult times. Her work includes Ezra Jack Keats Book Award winner A Bowl Full of Peace and Sachiko: A Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivor's Story, which was longlisted for a National Book Award and received a Sibert Honor Award, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award, and the Flora Stieglitz Straus Award. Caren and her husband, Kim, live in Minneapolis. Amanda Yoshida began drawing at a young age. She attended Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Los Angeles and went on to work for several years as a 3D artist and graphic designer. She began illustrating picture books in 2016 after the birth of her son. When she's not illustrating or playing with her energetic kiddo, she enjoys connecting with her Asian and Irish heritage through art, storytelling, sushi and the occasional Irish Coffee. Amanda lives in Oregon with her family.