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Reading age
12+
Genre
Historical fiction
Publisher
Clarion Books
Publication date
March 1, 2022
14 Japanese American teenagers suffer from tension in their own country.
This book traces a storyline depicting the imprisonment of the Japanese in America by 14 teens who grew up with each other in Japantown, California.
This story is set in the later years of World War II in America. I felt sorry for the mistreatment of the Japanese teens and rooted for them throughout the book. I had heard about this part of History on a website with historical games called Mission US, but it brought me more information about this part of History.
It was a tremendous yet moving story of 14 unique perspectives of teenagers sent to those camps.
Minoru, or Minow, is a shy, talented artist. Shigeo, or Shig (Minnow’s brother), is one of the troublemakers in the book. Amy, or Yum-Yum (Shig’s girlfriend), has to take care of her family and be brave. These are a few of the characters.
The theme of We Are Not Free is to survive with all you’ve got in a life full of injustice. I recommend this book to history buffs; the Japanese Incarceration during WWII is barely debated in school.
My rating
About the author
“Traci Chee is the NEW YORK TIMES best-selling author of YA fantasy THE READER. An all-around word geek, she loves book arts and art books, poetry and paper crafts, though she also dabbles at piano playing, egg painting, and hosting potluck game nights for family and friends. She studied literature and creative writing at UC Santa Cruz and earned a master of arts degree from San Francisco State University. Traci grew up in a small town with more cows than people, and now feels most at home in the mountains, scaling switchbacks and happening upon hidden highland lakes. She lives in California with her fast-fast dog.” – Amazon.
