Hunt for the Bamboo Rat

“A gripping saga of wartime survival.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred

Based on a true story, this World War II novel by Scott O’Dell Award winner Graham Salisbury tells how Zenji, 17, is sent from Hawaii to the Philippines to spy on the Japanese.


Zenji Watanabe was born in Hawaii. He’s an American, but the Japanese wouldn’t know it by the look of him. And that’s exactly what the US government is counting on.

Because he speaks both English and Japanese perfectly, the army recruits Zenji for a top-...