In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 sent more than 120,000 Japanese on the Mainland to internment camps. Hawai'i's roughly 170,000 Japanese escaped mass internment. Why? Answers will be discussed at "The Fortunate Exception: Hawai'i and the Internment of Japanese Americans During World War II" at 6 tonight at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i, 2454 S. Beretania St. On the panel will be scholars Tetsuden Kashima of the University of Washington, Greg Robinson of the Université du Québec and local writer-filmmaker Tom Coffman. The event is free. Call 945-7633 for details.

— Wanda Adams

GET KIDS TO READ

'OVER THE HEDGE' PRIZES UP FOR GRABS

We all know reading pays off in knowledge; now young bookworms can score prizes too. "Let Reading Take You Over the Hedge" is a promotion for DreamWorks Animation's "Over the Hedge," right, opening May 19 with an all-star cast of voices (Bruce Willis, William Shatner, Avril Lavigne and others). Youth who check out at least three books from May 1 to 26 can enroll in the program at local libraries. Entrants have a chance to win drawings for "Over the Hedge" Scholastic Activity Books, an "Over the Hedge" lithograph or a private screening of the film for 50 friends at their hometown theater. Information is available at local libraries.

FINAL WORD

"Nothing short of epic."

Damon Lindelof | the "Lost" co-creator on the show's May 24 season finale, in USA Weekend magazine