Gaijin: American Prisoner of War

by Matt Faulkner

Overview

With a white mother and a Japanese father, Koji Miyamoto quickly realizes that his home in San Francisco is no longer a welcoming one after Pearl Harbor is attacked. And once he's sent to an internment camp, he learns that being half white at the camp is just as difficult as being half Japanese on the streets of an American city during WWII. Koji's story, based on true events, is brought to life by Matt Faulkner's cinematic illustrations that reveal Koji struggling to find his place in a tumultuous world-one where he is a prisoner of war in his own country.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781423137351
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	04/15/2014
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	1,123,005
Product dimensions:	7.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Matt Faulkner, a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, is an acclaimed illustrator who has written and illustrated a number of children's books, including Gaijin: American Prisoner of War, The Moon Clock, Black Belt, and A Taste of Colored Water. Matt lives with his wife, Kris Remenar, an author and children's librarian, and their children, in southeast Michigan. Visit him at www.mattfaulkner.com.

Editorial Reviews

04/28/2014
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.)

Publishers Weekly

2014-03-31
After the United States enters World War II, a half-Japanese teen and his white mother find themselves interned at the Alameda Downs Assembly Center. Everything changes for 13-year-old Koji Miyamoto after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. His schoolmates accuse him of being a "Jap spy," and streetcars refuse to stop for him on the street. It doesn't help that his father has returned to Japan; Koji worries that his father may be fighting for the Japanese in the war. When Koji receives a summons to a "relocation" camp, his mother, Adeline, chooses to accompany him. The living conditions at Alameda Downs are deplorable, but Koji struggles even more with his outsider status. The other camp teenagers call him gaijin, involve him in brawls and spread gossip about his mother. Inspired by the true story of Faulkner's great-aunt, the graphic novel features gouache illustrations that deftly capture Koji's anger and frustration when he's rejected by his peers and treated as an "enemy alien" despite his citizenship. The simple text provides enough historical context to help young readers who may be unfamiliar with the history of Japanese-American internment to understand Koji's story. An accessible account about a dark—and still too-little-known—moment in American history. (author's note, resources) (Graphic historical fiction. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews

2014 APALA Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Winner
2014 ALSC Graphic Novels Reading List
2015 Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year

"Powerful . . . Matt Faulkner tells his tale with fierce graphics and moving delicacy."— George Takei

"Amazing art and a moving story drew me into this compelling, historically important graphic novel."— Graham Salisbury, author of Under the Blood-Red Sun, winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction

"Matt Faulkner has crafted a beautifully drawn novel that simmers with rage."— Matt Phelan, author-illustrator of The Storm in the Barn, winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction

"This is an important book that should be in every collection."— VOYA

"An accessible account about a dark-and still too-little-known-moment in American history."— Kirkus Reviews

"Vivid and compelling."— Horn Book

From the Publisher

05/01/2014
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

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