Under the Blood Red Sun

Tomi is thirteen-years-old and living on the island of Oahu with his Japanese-American family when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Tomi's life turns upside down. He has always had the struggle of finding out where he fits into the world of the haoles and into the world of Japanese tradition at home. That's a tough place that other kids in America find themselves in these days, trying to fit in and living in two very different worlds. After the bombing, though, Tomi finds life is even more difficult as his father, a fisherman, is arrested, and his grandfather stubbornly waves the Japanese flag in the open. Prejudice and fear rear their ugly heads, and we endure all as we watch Tomi come to terms with himself, his heritage and the world around him. 256 pages Ages 10-13