Four-Four-Two

Starred review from September 15, 2016
The story of two young Japanese-American men who enlist in the 442nd Regiment, a segregated unit of Japanese-American soldiers and white officers that fought in the European Theater.Before getting to the war, Hughes provides an on-the-ground view of the American government roundup of Japanese immigrants and citizens after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, their detainment, and eventual transport to internment camps. As seen through the eyes of Topaz internees Yuki and his friend Shig, fighting for the United States would redeem their honor as Americans, but gradually their perspective changes. They learn that honor is not a public display but rather something earned (or not) by comrades undergoing extreme hardship and covering one another's backs. Hughes sends these men through the wringer. They endure foot rot and the stress of taking the next hill (which is worse is up for grabs), and they also grapple with the consequences: how does one reconcile shooting a kid, even if he's an enemy soldier? Yuki reflects that "what he and Shig were doing--and the Germans, too--was brutal, disgusting," and he would "spend his life trying to remove all this ugliness from his head and his hands." Throughout, Hughes never shies from the institutionalized bigotry that put these Americans of Japanese ancestry into harm's way more than their fair share of times. Nuanced and riveting in equal parts. (Historical fiction. 12-16)

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October 1, 2016

Gr 7 Up-Yuki Nakahara is American. He was born in California, wears jeans, and has never even visited another country-but at the start of World War II he becomes aware that other Americans see him as a foreign enemy. His family is one of the thousands of Japanese American citizens arrested and forcibly transferred to internment camps in the rural desert. Although depressed about their situation, Yuki and friend Shig decide to join the army to fight for their country and to prove once and for all that they are loyal to the United States. As the war wages on, however, Yuki realizes that he must respect himself and where he came from, and that neither war nor changing others' minds is as easy as he had imagined. Although this is a work of historical fiction, the author's thorough research about the boys of the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team and his meticulous descriptions of battle scenes bring the story to life without boring readers familiar or unfamiliar with the military lifestyle. The strong emotions evoked by the vivid details of battle and the other realities of war make this work sometimes difficult to read, but the excitement and compassion will keep even the most hesitant readers turning the pages. Those who follow the news will find connections between Yuki's plight and current events. VERDICT A solid purchase for collections looking to entice reluctant readers and those where historical fiction or war novels are popular.-DeHanza Kwong, Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte, NC

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 1, 2016
Grades 7-10 *Starred Review* In December 1941, FBI agents arrest Yuki Nakahara's father without cause. By 1943, 18-year-old Yuki and his family have been relocated from California to an internment camp in Utah. Despite this, Yuki enlists in the U.S. Army with his best friend, Shig, and they join the Second Battalion of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (which comprises only Japanese Americans, as whites refuse to fight alongside them). Yuki initially boasts about becoming a war hero, but is sobered as he sees friends killed by German artillery. After months of relentless battle, Yuki and Shig's comrades-in-arms suffer countless casualties and gain a reputation as the Purple Heart Battalion. Finally, because generals view the nisei soldiers as expendable, Yuki's battalion is sent on an almost impossible mission to rescue white American soldiers surrounded by German forces. Hughes' writing effectively evokes the horrors of war and the internal conflict of young men fighting for a country that has treated them unjustly. The challenges of Yuki's reentry into the States are also well conveyed: the guilt of survival, the difficulty of communicating the war experience to civilians, and the continued widespread racism. Though a couple of conversations seem stilted for the sake of exposition, in general the dialogue reads naturally (even the pidgin English spoken by Hawaiian soldiers is decent). This is historical fiction at its finestimmersive and inspirational.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)