Browse > Genre > Historical Fiction

70 articles

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Nasakenai (short story)

Short Stories
Grades 9-12, Adult
Historical Fiction
Evils of racism, Facing reality, Will to survive, Working class struggles
Limited availability

Short story about an Issei couple in the San Francisco Bay area in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor . Both work as servants—the husband as a gardener and the wife as a maid—for prominent white families in a wealthy adjacent community and support three children at home, with a son in the army. After the attack, the husband goes to work and is assured by his employer that she will not fire him despite community pressure to do so. But the wife, who has worked for the family of a prominent lawyer for over a decade, is fired, since the lawyer represents a farming organization that supports anti-Japanese actions. An Issei gardener who works for the same family is also fired. Afterwards, the wife visits briefly with the family of the gardener and goes home to work on her garden, vowing that things will be okay.

Phantoms (book)

Books
Grades 9-12, Adult
Adult
Historical Fiction
Facing darkness, Heartbreak of betrayal, Injustice, Power of the past
Widely available

Novel by Christian Kiefer centering on a white Vietnam War veteran who tries to unravel the story of what happened to a Nisei World War II veteran, gaining insight into his own experiences in the process.

Private Life (book)

Books
Historical Fiction
Facing reality, Identity crisis, Female roles, Disillusionment and dreams
Available

A middle-aged white woman recounts her friendship with a Japanese American family she first meets through personal tragedy; the injustice they experience, partly as a result of her own husband, leads her to a personal awakening.

A Place Where Sunflowers Grow (book)

Books
Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
Grades 1-2
Children's, Historical Fiction
Darkness and light, Empowerment, Expression through art, Importance of community, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice
Widely available

Children's picture book by Amy Lee-Tai and illustrated by Felicia Hoshino about Mari, a young Japanese American girl in Topaz , an American concentration camp during World War II. As the book begins, she plants sunflower seeds in the desert soil, hoping they will grow like the sunflowers in their old backyard. She recalls their prewar home, where she lived with her older brother and artist parents. At Topaz, she goes with her father to the art school he started. Initially unable to draw anything in the children's class, she slowly starts to find things to draw with the help of a supportive teacher, her father, and her new friend Aiko. After drawing a picture of her barrack with the sunflowers growing tall in front, she returns home to find little sunflower seedlings, giving her hope for the future. A final page provides biographies of the author and illustrator and …

Paper Wishes (book)

Books
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Grades 3-5
Children's, Historical Fiction
Communication – verbal and nonverbal, Growing up – pain or pleasure, Lost love, Power of silence
Widely available

Children's novel by Lois Sepahban centering on a young girl from Bainbridge Island, Washington , who turns mute when she and her family are uprooted and sent to Manzanar .

Otoko (short story)

Short Stories
Grades 9-12, Adult
Historical Fiction
Disillusionment and dreams, Growing up – pain or pleasure, Immigrant experience, Loss of innocence, Role of men, Vulnerability of the meek
Widely available

Short story by Wakako Yamauchi centering on a Nisei brother and sister who recall their father and their family's prewar and wartime hardships while listening to Japanese folksongs. On the longest day of the year one summer, Kiyo visits his sister, the narrator, bringing a record of Japanese children's songs. The act of listening to the songs triggers memories of their early years. Once relatively prosperous, their fortunes turn dire quickly when their father loses his job. He becomes a tenant farmer, but can't make enough to support the family. Kiyo recalls a time when he went with his father to visit a friend, Kiyo thinks, to ask to borrow money. The narrator recalls working as a "school girl" with a white family for a few months, returning to find her family living in a tent, her little sister's teeth rotting, and her father suffering from a stomach ailment. Later, …

O Furo (The Bath) (short story)

Short Stories
Grades 9-12, Adult
Historical Fiction
Beauty of simplicity, Fulfillment, Nature as beauty
Available

Short story by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston about an elderly woman in an unspecified American concentration camp during the World War II. Yuki, a seventy-three year old widow, lives with her grandson, Dixon, a separate barracks room away from the rest of the family. When the falling snow reminds her of Japan, she prevails on Dixon to help her build a Japanese style furo , which they accomplish using scrap lumber and a discarded metal drum. Sitting in the tub, she reflects contentedly on her life.

Painting the Rainbow (book)

Books
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Children's, Historical Fiction
Family – blessing or curse, Coming of age, Communication – verbal and nonverbal, Growing up – pain or pleasure
Widely available

Coming-of-age novel for young readers about two thirteen-year old cousins at a New England family summer retreat in 1965 who grapple with both their changing relationship and with the discovery of family secrets stemming from the World War II period that tangentially involve the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans.

Red Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky (book)

Books
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Grades 3-5
Children's, Historical Fiction
Coming of age, Displacement, Evils of racism, Role of women
Widely available

Children's novel aimed at ages 8 to 11 by Sandra Dallas centering on the wartime incarceration experience of the Itano family at the Tallgrass, Colorado, camp, featuring as its protagonist twelve year old Tomi Itano. The book is a sequel of sorts to Dallas' adult novel, Tallgrass (2007).

A Diamond in the Desert (book)

Books
Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
Grades 3-5
Children's, Historical Fiction
Coming of age, Disillusionment and dreams, Forgiveness, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice
Widely available

Novel for children centering on Tetsuo Kishi, a teenager at the Gila River , Arizona, concentration camp who finds solace in baseball.

A Girl Like You (book)

Books
Grades 9-12, Adult
Historical Fiction
Coming of age, Evils of racism, Family – blessing or curse, Importance of community, Motherhood, Quest for discovery, Role of women
Available

Coming-of-age novel by Maureen Lindley that takes place largely in Manzanar and whose protagonist is a mixed-race Sansei girl.

Mendez v. Westminster: For All the Children (book)

Books
Grades 3-5
Grades 3-5
Children's, Historical Fiction
Change versus tradition, Injustice, Rights - individual or societal
Limited availability

Children's picture book that tells in simplified form the story of the landmark Mendez case that ultimately ended segregated schools in California. The story is told through the perspective of Sylvia Mendez who is eight years old in 1943. Having rented the farm of Munemitsu family, who had been forcibly removed to concentration camps, they were new to Westminster, California. When she and her brothers are prohibited from attending the same school as her cousins (who can pass as "white") and must attend the inferior school for those of Mexican, African or Asian ancestry, her family decides to sue. With the help of lawyer David C. Marcus—and support from various organizations including the Japanese American Citizens League —the suit proves successful, ending segregation in the state. A brief epilogue notes the long-term impact of the case and the fate of Sylvia and others involved in it.

Within These Lines (book)

Books
Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
Children's, Historical Fiction
Everlasting love, Losing hope, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice
Widely available

Young adult novel by Stephanie Morrill centering on the forbidden romance between Italian American Evalina Cassano and Nisei Taichi Hamasaki in the San Francisco Bay Area against the backdrop of the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans. Having met in the course of their families' businesses—Taichi delivers produce from the Hamasaki family farm to Cassano's Italian restaurant—they keep their romance secret from their families as the story begins in March of 1942. But the Hamasakis' forced removal to Manzanar throws another wrench into their hopes for a future together. The story ends at the end of 1942, with the December uprising serving as its climax, with a brief epilogue that takes place in 1950.

Beneath the Wide Silk Sky (book)

Books
Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
Children's, Historical Fiction
Coming of age, Evils of racism, Loss of innocence
Widely available

Young adult coming-of-age novel by Emily Inouye Huey set in fictional Linley Island, Washington, in the weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

This Light Between Us: A Novel of World War II (book)

Books
Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
Historical Fiction
Coming of age, Everlasting love, War – glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
Widely available

Young adult novel by Andrew Fukuda centering on Alex Maki, a bookish and artistic teenager growing up in a farming family in Bainbridge Island, Washington and his unlikely pen pal relationship with Charlie Lévy, a Jewish teenager growing up in Paris. First assigned to correspond with Charlie as part of a school exercise, Alex is initially disappointed because Charlie was a girl. But they continue to write to each other, and their relationship deepens into a quasi-romantic one as they grow older. World War II sees Alex and his family forcibly removed from their home and sent to Manzanar, while Charlie's family feels growing unease as Nazi occupation approaches. When her letters stop, Alex is moved to volunteer for the army and is eventually sent to Europe as part of the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion .

Hawaii, End of the Rainbow (book)

Books
Grades 9-12, Adult
Historical Fiction
Immigrant experience, Injustice, Will to survive, Working class struggles
Available

Kazuo Miyamoto (1897–1988) was a Nisei doctor and author who was interned at various incarceration camps for the duration of World War II as a result of the publication of his observations during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). During his incarceration at Sand Island , Miyamoto began writing Hawaii, End of the Rainbow , which took him seventeen years to complete. Although a fictional account of the experiences of Japanese immigrants spanning nearly seventy years from their arrival in the Islands to World War II, it provides key insights from a participant in these important events.

Fox Drum Bebop (book)

Books
Grades 9-12, Adult
Historical Fiction
Family – blessing or curse, Immigrant experience, Power of words
Widely available

Novel by Gene Oishi that tells the saga of the Konos, a Japanese American farming family from coastal California, covering the years 1940 to 1982. Largely based on the author's own life and family, each chapter is a stand alone short story set in a particular time period. Early chapters covering the prewar years and the upheavals of World War II are told from the perspective of different family members, while later chapters covering the postwar years are largely through the perspective of Hiroshi, the character based on the author. Fox Drum Bebop was published by Kaya Press in 2014 and received the 2016 Association for Asian American Studies book award in the Creative Writing: Prose category.

Clark and Division (book)

Books
Grades 9-12, Adult
Historical Fiction
Coming of age, Convention and rebellion, Disillusionment and dreams, Quest for discovery
Widely available

Edgar Award winning mystery novel by Naomi Hirahara set among Japanese Americans who have resettled in Chicago in 1944.

No-No Boy (book)

Books
Grades 9-12, Adult
Historical Fiction
Convention and rebellion, Family – blessing or curse, Heroism – real and perceived, Individual versus society, Patriotism – positive side or complications
Widely available

In 1956, Nisei writer John Okada wrote No-No Boy , a novel that explored the predicament of a Japanese American World War II conscientious objector, having served time in prison for refusing to serve in the military, who returns home only to face the consequences of his decision. Upon arriving in his former neighborhood, he is met with hostility and despair. He discovers that his mother delusionally believes that Japan has won the war, and his younger brother—ashamed of Ichiro's decision to refuse the draft—abruptly quits high school to join the army himself. In the course of the novel, Ichiro's inner conflict grows to reflect the racial tension and residual anguish following the war and his individual guilt represents the conflict of the country at large.

A Place to Belong (book)

Books
Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
Grades 7-8
Children's, Historical Fiction
Coming of age, Facing darkness, Family – blessing or curse, Growing up – pain or pleasure, Loss of innocence, Will to survive
Widely available

Young adult novel by Cynthia Kadohata that tells the story of a Japanese American family's experience in postwar Japan from the perspective of an adolescent female protagonist.

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