Gaijin: American Prisoner of War

Faulkner (A Taste of Colored Water) draws on his own ancestry as inspiration for the story of 13-year-old Koji Miyamoto, a half-Japanese boy who is sent to an internment camp during WWII. Like many people of mixed race, Koji doesn't seem to fit in anywhere--harassed and called "slanty eyes" and a "Jap spy" by Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and a "gaijin" (a pejorative for foreigner) by the Japanese at the camp. Even with a loving mother and avuncular neighbor, Koji dreams of his father, who is abroad in Japan and whose absence places Koji under suspicion by the FBI. Aimless and filled with self-doubt, Koji begins to act out by committing petty theft and disrespecting authority, including his mother. Compassion becomes the key to Koji's salvation, and Faulkner's narrative elicits real pathos. Yet the book's true strength lies in its rich palette and painted visuals that, appropriately enough, evoke a mix between Japanese woodblock prints and Norman Rockwell paintings. Ages 8-12. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Apr.)

Gr 5-8--In 1941, biracial Koji and his mother hear about the attacks on Pearl Harbor from their home in San Francisco. As tensions escalate, Mrs. Miyamoto volunteers to accompany her son to the Japanese relocation camp, where Koji has to navigate the hostile environment and the social pressures of the other teenage boys. Throughout all this, his father is absent, and Koji worries if he is the traitor the U.S. government suspects him to be. The artwork is lovely, with gestural lines and colors that are warm and redolent of age and memory, and which bridge caricature and realism. However, the dialogue and word balloons lack a similar finesse, as they are garishly large and convey little subtlety of emotion. They make the protagonist seem loud and immature, and generally pitch the book younger than his age. This is problematic, as he is old enough to worry about his mother, and harbors suspicions that she is having affairs for favorable treatment in the camp--issues somewhat beyond the scope of a children's book. Emotions at the times ran high, and the issues depicted are complex; this book doesn't quite capture that complexity.--Benjamin Russell, Belmont High School, NH