She is best known for her autobiographical novel Farewell to Manzanar that narrates her personal experiences in World War II incarceration camps.

The book has been credited with sharing the story of the Japanese American incarceration with generations of young people.

She lived in Los Angeles, California until 1942 when President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, causing her and her family to be incarcerated.

They were transported in large greyhound buses from Los Angeles to Manzanar, a drive that takes about three hours and forty five minutes today.

She and her family spent the next three years in the camp, attempting to live a "normal" life behind barbed wire, under the watch of armed guards in searchlight towers.

[4] Despite their efforts, obstacles managed to get in the way: her father's drinking habits and aggressive abuse, having no freedom, and very little space in the cubicles.

They were divided into six units that were sixteen long by twenty feet wide, and a singular light bulb hung from the ceiling.

A partial list of her awards can be found at https://www.californiamuseum.org/inductee/jeanne-wakatsuki-houston Other publications include Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder (1984) with Paul G. Hensler as co-author, and Beyond Manzanar and Other Views of Asian-American Womanhood (1985).

[1] The novel was adapted into a television movie in 1976, starring Nobu McCarthy, who portrayed both Houston as well as her mother in the film.

[8] In an effort to educate Californians about the experiences of Japanese Americans who were imprisoned during World War II, the book and movie were distributed in 2002 as part of a kit to approximately 8,500 public elementary and secondary schools and 1,500 public libraries in California.