Facing the Mountain

September 15, 2023
A gripping history of Japanese American fortitude in the face of racism and incarceration during World War II. Hudson's adaptation of Brown's acclaimed 2021 adult original depicts the experiences of four young Japanese American men against a backdrop of wartime hysteria. While their families languished in internment camps, Rudy Tokiwa, Fred Shiosaki, and Katsugo Miho volunteered for the all-Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which would became one of the most decorated units--though at the expense of a tragically high casualty rate--in American military history. Meanwhile, Gordon Hirabayashi fought a different battle through his steadfast, peaceful resistance to Executive Order 9066, which authorized the incarceration camps. He went on to become a prominent civil rights activist. The book highlights the Japanese American community's diversity, particularly distinctions between mainlanders and those from Hawai'i. Telling details highlight daily indignities endured in the internment camps. The bonds between the soldiers, as well as the horrors of the battlefield, are described with care and compassion. Brown excels at choosing powerful moments that bring the time period to life and at depicting individual people whom readers will grow to care deeply for. He asks us to remember that "their stories aren't just history. Their stories shine a light on our own time," for there is "still much work to be done." An unforgettable account of an appalling chapter in American history. (map, resources, photo credits, bibliography, endnotes, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

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October 1, 2023
Grades 6-8 *Starred Review* This young reader's edition has been thoroughly adapted and trimmed to about half the length of the adult original, but Brown's contagious sense of outrage remains as he follows several young Japanese American men and women who were recruited into the U.S. military even as many of them and their families were going through the "deeply humiliating and starkly dehumanizing" experience of being uprooted from their lives and transported to "concentration camps" (as he justly calls them, though acknowledging that the Nazi ones had a more vile purpose). Despite cultural friction, the mainland "Kotonk" and the Hawaiian "Buddhahead" recruits went on to bond and, through months of hard combat in Italy and elsewhere, become one of the army's most decorated units. Meanwhile, in an equally inspirational parallel narrative thread, the author retraces the heroic way conscientious objector Gordon Hirabayashi stood on his constitutional rights and Quaker principles back on the home front in the face of intense pressure and prejudice. Based largely on oral histories and interviews, this account of a shameful episode offers a telling lesson for all readers who take their own rights for granted: "Their stories aren't just history," Brown writes. "They shine a light on our own time."

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Starred review from December 1, 2023

Gr 6 Up-An incisive account of how four young Japanese American men fought for their country despite the incarceration of their families during World War II. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, Rudy Tokiwa, Fred Shiosaki, and Kats Miho volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during World War II, even though their families were unjustly imprisoned due to Executive Order 9066. Meanwhile, Gordon Hirabayashi, a conscientious observer, protested the racist policies of the government that would negate the rights of its own citizens. This adaptation of Brown's adult book captures the diverse perspectives of the people of Japanese descent in the United States, Hawaii and the mainland, immigrants (Issei) and first-generation (Nisei). He points out how language was used to twist the truth and enforce widespread prejudice and suspicion (the use of the pejorative terms is reflective of the time period), and places an emphasis on how fighting for the soul of your country takes different forms-putting on a uniform (and even dying) out of love for the country that doesn't love you back, or standing up for the ideals that it has preached but has never put into practice. Readers are also presented with the experiences of those who were forced to live in the concentration camps through heartbreaking stories. The resilience, patriotism, and righteous anger of those profiled will move young people to action. VERDICT A propulsive narrative, impressive back matter, impeccable research, and primary source material make this an eye-opening story that belongs in every nonfiction collection for young readers.-Shelley M. Diaz

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