Browse > Reading Level > Grades 7-8
59 articles
Thin Wood Walls (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 7-8
- Children's, Historical Fiction
- Coming of age, Evils of racism, Loss of innocence, War – glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
- Widely available
Children's book by David Patneaude that follows a Japanese American boy and his family as they are forcibly removed from their Washington state home and sent to the Tule Lake concentration camp during World War II.
This Time Will Be Different (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Grades 7-8
- Young Adult, History
- Capitalism – effect on the individual, Coming of age, Family – blessing or curse, Power of the past
- Widely available
Acclaimed coming of age novel by Misa Sugiura that explores the continuing impact and relevance of Japanese American incarceration.
House of the Red Fish (book)
- Books
- Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Grades 7-8
- Historical Fiction, Young Adult
- Coming of age, Empowerment, Good versus bad, Importance of community
- Widely available
Young adult novel by Graham Salisbury about a Nisei teenager in wartime Honolulu who struggles to bring up the sunken fishing boat of his interned father. It is a sequel to the popular 1994 novel Under the Blood-Red Sun .
I Am an American: A True Story of Japanese Internment (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Grades 7-8
- Children's
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Injustice
- Widely available
Book aimed at middle school audiences that tells the larger story of the Japanese American World War II removal and incarceration through the experiences of one typical Nisei teenager.
Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans during World War II (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 7-8
- Young adult
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Hazards of passing judgment, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Widely available
Lavishly illustrated large-format juvenile book for that provides an overview of the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans, military service, and the redress movement.
In America's Shadow (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Children's
- Patriotism – positive side or complications, Power of the past
- Available
Children's picture book by Kimberley Komatsu and Kaleigh Komatsu told from the perspective of a young girl recounting her family's wartime incarceration story.
Internment of Japanese Americans (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 7-8
- Children's
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Hazards of passing judgment, Injustice
- Available
Non-fiction overview of the Japanese American forced removal and incarceration by John L. Wukovits as part of Lucent Books' World History Series. Published in 2013, the 120-page book is intended for students in grades 7 to 10.
The Internment of Japanese Americans (Enslow Publishing) (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8
- Grades 7-8
- Children's, History
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Hazards of passing judgment, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Available
Overview work on the Japanese American wartime removal and incarceration for middle school audiences that is part of Enslow Publishers' "Our Shared History" series. It draws heavily from Kent's earlier The Tragic History of the Japanese-American Internment Camps (2008) and can be seen as a slightly updated version of the earlier book.
The Internment of Japanese Americans (ReferencePoint Press) (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 7-8
- Young adult
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Hazards of passing judgment, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Widely available
Overview volume on the wartime removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans aimed at middle and high school audiences published in 2014 by ReferencePoint Press as part of the "Understanding American History" series.
The Internment of Japanese Americans during World War II (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 7-8
- Young adult
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Hazards of passing judgment, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Widely available
Overview work on the Japanese American World War II incarceration aimed at middle and high school audiences.
The Internment of the Japanese (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Young Adult, History
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Available
Overview book by Diane Yancey on the wartime forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans for middle school audiences that is part of Lucent Books "World History Series."
The Invisible Thread (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Memoir, Children's
- Immigrant experience, Growing up – pain or pleasure, Expression through art, Facing darkness, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice
- Widely available
Memoir for young adult readers by the acclaimed children's book author that covers her charmed childhood in Berkeley, California, and her wartime incarceration during World War II.
Japanese American Internment Camps (Greenhaven Press, 2001) (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8
- Grades 7-8
- Young Adult, History
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Hazards of passing judgment, Injustice
- Available
Anthology of first-person pieces on the wartime removal and incarceration as part of Greenhaven Press's "History Firsthand" Series.
Japanese American Internment Camps (Greenhaven Press, 2002) (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8
- Grades 7-8
- Young Adult, History
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Hazards of passing judgment, Injustice
- Available
Collection of pieces on the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans for middle and high school audiences. As part of Greenhaven Press's "Opposing Viewpoints" and "At Issue in History" series, the assembled pieces express different perspectives on the topic.
Japanese American Journey: The Story of a People (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- History, Children's
- Empowerment, Fulfillment, Heartbreak of betrayal, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice, Progress – real or illusion
- Available
Overview work for children on the Japanese American experience produced by the Japanese American Curriculum Project (JACP) in 1985. Consisting of a historical overview, eleven biographies of notable Japanese Americans, and three short stories, Japanese American Journey was adapted from a 1970 JACP publication titled Japanese Americans: The Untold Story .
Japanese Americans and Internment (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8
- Grades 7-8
- Young Adult, History
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Available
Overview textbook on the Japanese American removal and incarceration published by Globe Fearon in 1994 as part of their "Globe Mosaic of American History" series. No author is credited with sociologist (and former inmate) Harry H.L. Kitano listed on the title page as the "consultant."
Japanese-American Internment in American History (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Young Adult, History
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Hazards of passing judgment, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Available
Non-fiction overview of the incarceration experience written for middle school readers. One of the relatively few such books written for this age group, it is part of Enslow Publishers' "In American History" series.
The Japanese American Internment: Civil Liberties Denied (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8
- Grades 7-8
- Young Adult, History
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Hazards of passing judgment, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Available
Overview work on the Japanese American wartime removal and incarceration for middle school audiences.
The Japanese American Internment: Innocence, Guilt, and Wartime Justice (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Young Adult, History
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Hazards of passing judgment, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Available
Overview of the wartime removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans by Ann Heinrichs that is part of Marshall Cavendish Benchmark's "Perspectives on... " series.
The Japanese Internment Camps: A History Perspectives Book (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Children's, History
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Available
Children's book on the wartime removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans that focuses on Manzanar and tells its story through three first-person accounts.
Journey of Heroes: The Story of the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Heroism – real and perceived, War – glory, necessity, pain, tragedy, Evils of racism
- Widely available
A comic book version of the story of the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team told in the first person voice of a Nisei from Hawai'i.
Justice Denied: A History of the Japanese in the United States (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- History, Children's
- Evils of racism, Immigrant experience, Injustice, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice
- Limited availability
Early overview of the history of Japanese Americans for young readers by British author/activist Jennifer Cross.
Korematsu v. United States: Japanese-American Internment Camps (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8
- Grades 7-8
- Young Adult, History
- Convention and rebellion, Evils of racism, Individual versus society, Injustice, Rights - individual or societal
- Available
Overview of the Korematsu Supreme Court case as part of Enslow Publishers' Landmark Supreme Court Cases series.
Life in a Japanese American Internment Camp (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8
- Grades 7-8
- Young Adult, History
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Available
Short, illustrated book for middle schoolers on the Japanese American wartime incarceration by Diane Yancey. The 1998 volume was part of the Lucent Books' "The Way People Live" series.
The Little Exile (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Grades 7-8
- Memoir
- Evils of racism, Family – blessing or curse, Female roles, Immigrant experience
- Available
Memoir by Jeanette A. Arakawa covering her wartime incarceration at the Stockton Assembly Center and Rohwer , Arkansas, concentration camp and postwar resettlement in Denver. Though written in the first person, her name and those of others in the book have been changed.