Browse > Genre > Historical Fiction

72 articles

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Gardens of Hope (book)

Books
Grades 9-12, Adult
Historical Fiction
Companionship as salvation, Everlasting love, Evils of racism, Loss of innocence, Self-awareness
Widely available

Novel about the short but life changing romance between a young white man and a Nisei man during World War II. The story begins in 2004, as the elderly Jack Henry asks his nephew to drive him to the Manzanar National Historic Site. On the way, he tells the nephew the story of his connection to the place. As the story begins in Los Angeles the fall of 1942, Jack seems to have everything: a loving family, a smart and attractive fiancée, and good prospects for a career as a teacher. However as a closeted gay man, he is confused and unhappy. Drawn to Pershing Park downtown, he has a series of furtive sexual encounters with other men before meeting Hiro, a handsome young Nisei. Their affair is immediately different and deeper than the others. When the outbreak of war separates them, Jack impulsively decides to become a teacher at …

Dust of Eden (book)

Books
Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
Grades 7-8
Children's, Historical Fiction
Coming of age, Injustice
Widely available

Acclaimed children's book in verse about the wartime incarceration experience of a Japanese American family told from the perspective of a middle-school aged girl.

Gambling Den (short story)

Short Stories
Grades 9-12, Adult
Historical Fiction
Coming of age, Disillusionment and dreams, Immigrant experience, Loss of innocence, Role of women, Temptation and destruction
No availability

Short story by Akemi Kikumura about a Japanese American family in Lodi, California, on the eve of World War II. Told in the first person voice of fifteen-year-old Peggy Tanaka, the story begins with the Tanaka family's fateful purchase of a restaurant in 1941. The restaurant soon becomes a success as migrant workers are drawn to both Mrs. Tanaka's cooking and the beauty of Ann, Peggy's eighteen-year-old sister. Mr. Tanaka's decision to open a gambling den in back further adds to profits, despite Mrs. Tanaka's disapproval and the necessary kick-backs to a corrupt local policeman. But the Tanakas' lives are soon to be complicated by Ann's romance with a young man of burakumin (Japanese outcaste) origin, a conniving neighbor, and the impending roundup of Japanese Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Floating Home (short story)

Short Stories
Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
Historical Fiction
Facing reality, Growing up – pain or pleasure, Reunion, Working class struggles
Widely available

Short story about a family returning to Little Tokyo from Rohwer . When fourteen-year-old Mari returns home with her parents, she expects to go to their old house, but is dismayed when they go to a run down residential hotel instead. Her father explains to her that they had rented the house they had lived in before the war, and they it was now being rented to someone else. Mari decides to walk to the house to take a last look. She finds an African American girl about her age on the swing in front. Initially suspicious, the girl becomes friendlier when Mari tells her why she and her family had to leave and invites her inside.

Flowers from Mariko (book)

Books
Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
Grades 3-5
Children's, Historical Fiction
Growing up – pain or pleasure, Heartbreak of betrayal, Optimism – power or folly, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice, Working class struggles
Widely available

Picture book for children about a Japanese American family's World War II incarceration and difficulties in restarting their lives after the war, told from the perspective of a young girl of about nine of ten. Mariko, her little sister Emi, and their parents live in Los Angeles before the war, where their father works as a gardener. When they are forced to leave, he leaves his gardening truck and equipment with their landlord. When Japanese Americans are allowed to return to the West Coast in 1945, the family makes plans to return. However their father finds that his truck and equipment have been sold, and the former landlord is nowhere to be found. The family is forced to live in a government-run trailer park upon their return, and her father is unable to find work. One day, he finds some old equipment in the trash, along with some flower seeds. …

Allegiance (book)

Books
Grades 9-12, Adult
Historical Fiction, Mystery
Emptiness of attaining a false dream, Facing darkness, Injustice, Loss of innocence, Power and corruption
Widely available

Historical mystery novel by Kermit Roosevelt set during World War II against the backdrop of the Supreme Court and the Japanese American cases.

After the Bloom (book)

Books
Grades 9-12, Adult
Historical Fiction
Family – blessing or curse, Power of silence, Power of the past, Role of women
Widely available

Novel by Japanese Canadian author Leslie Shimotakahara about the sudden disappearance of a Nisei woman in Toronto and her Sansei daughter's search for her and her own past.

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.

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 .

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.

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, …

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.

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 .

Evergreen (book)

Books
Grades 9-12, Adult
Historical Fiction
Facing darkness, Power of the past, War – glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
Widely available

Mystery novel by Naomi Hirahara set in postwar Los Angeles and sequel to Clark and Division (2021).

Two Homelands (book)

Books
Grades 9-12, Adult
Historical Fiction
Death – inevitable or tragedy, Emptiness of attaining a false dream, Evils of racism, Family – blessing or curse, Heroism – real and perceived, Individual versus society, Nationalism – complications, Patriotism – positive side or complications, Vulnerability of the strong
Widely available

Epic three volume novel by best-selling Japanese novelist Toyoko Yamasaki that centers on the identity dilemmas of a Kibei man during and immediately after World War II. Published in Japan in 1983, it was adapted into a popular Japanese television drama the following year. Alarmed by reports that the novel/TV show portrayed Japanese Americans as having split loyalties, Japanese American leaders succeeded in preventing the TV drama from being shown in the continental U.S. In 2007, the University of Hawai'i Press published an English language translation by V. Dixon Morris under the title Two Homelands .

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.

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