Stealing Home by J. Torres - HIGH

Stealing Home by J. Torres, 112 pages. GRAPHIC NOVEL. Kids Can Press, 2021. $18.

Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: PG (internment camps); Violence: G.

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS – ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

The story follows the family of Sandy Saito, a young Japanese-Canadian boy who is obsessed with baseball, as they lose everything in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Within the course of a year, the Saito family and 21,000 other citizens were rounded up and shipped inland to hastily constructed camps. Throughout their experience, the Saito family clings to fragments of normalcy, like playing baseball.

This graphic novel serves as a great introduction to the very difficult topic of Japanese internment. It focuses on a family who lived in British Columbia, but the same experience happened to thousands of families along the western coast, in the US and Canada. I feel like Japanese-American internment isn’t something that is addressed very often when discussing WWII history, which tends to focus more on the European theater. I would definitely recommend this for middle school and high school libraries.

BookswithBeddes 

The First Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch - ADVISABLE

The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch, 358 pages.  NON-FICTION $20.  

Content: Language: G: Mature Content: G; Violence: PG.  

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS – ADVISABLE  

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE  

While George Washington was leading the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, he was targeted by Loyalists as a leader worth assassinating.  The events leading up to the colonies revolt against Britain, and Washington’s rise to leadership are touched on, as well as the Lifeguard Brigade which were Washington’s bodyguards.  The Revolutionary War events are alluded to, but this book mostly covers the men who were involved in the plot hatched by New York’s loyalist governor to kill Washington. 

I enjoyed this side story from the Revolutionary War and the information about the Loyalists tactics.  There are little human-interest stories woven throughout the larger plot which make the reading more interesting.  There are a lot of names to keep track of and it helps to have a working understanding of the overall story of the Revolutionary War, but if you like spy stories you will enjoy this. It’s amazing that our country survived the Revolutionary War, and this story sheds light on one of the little ways it could have turned out differently.  

Reviewer, C. Peterson