Browse > Interest Level > Grades 7-8
125 articles
Fighting for Honor: Japanese Americans and World War II (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 7-8
- Young Adult
- Evils of racism, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications, War – glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
- Widely available
Book aimed at middle and high school audiences on the experience of Japanese Americans during World War II, that focuses equally on the wartime incarceration and on military service.
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.
Four-Four-Two (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 7-8
- Historical fiction
- Coming of age, Companionship as salvation, Displacement, Forgiveness, Identity crisis
- Available
A popular and confident Nisei boy and his best friend enlist in the all-Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team and are thrown into the horrific reality of combat in Europe.
Enemy Child: The Story of Norman Mineta (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Biography, Children's
- Growing up – pain or pleasure, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice, Power of the past
- Widely available
Short biography of American politician Norman Mineta by Andrea Warren, published in 2019. The book, which is written for young adult readers, focuses on Mineta's childhood, with an emphasis on the years he and his family were incarcerated at Heart Mountain . The book includes historical War Relocation Authority photographs and a few personal photos from the Mineta family collection.
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.
Alice and the Bear (short story)
- Short Stories
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Companionship as salvation, Desire to escape, Growing up – pain or pleasure, Power of the past
- Widely available
Short story by Kiyoshi Parker about an old woman whose trip to a Little Tokyo store with her great-granddaughter brings back memories of her camp experience. Alice Miyamoto visits Little Tokyo in Los Angeles for the first time in thirty years with her family. After lunch, her daughter suggests they go visit the Go For Broke Monument . But on the way, her four-year-old great-granddaughter drags her into a store and picks up a stuffed Totoro toy. Alice is immediately reminded of a stuffed bear she had as a child of about the same age that was her constant companion when she was in an unspecified concentration camp.
A Teacher's Resource for Farewell to Manzanar (curricula)
- Curricula
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 7-9, Grades 9-12
- Coming of age, Displacement, Evils of racism, Family - blessing or curse, Growing up - pain or pleasure, Identity crisis, Injustice
- Widely available
This study guide developed in 1999 by Facing History and Ourselves with Voices of Love and Freedom is part of the "Witness to History" series that examines a literary work confronting the complexity of history particularly around issues of prejudice and discrimination. It is based on the 1973 edition of Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston. In this memoir, Wakatsuki Houston traces her family experiences during World War II, when because of their Japanese ancestry, they are incarcerated at Manzanar, a concentration camp in the California desert.
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.
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 .
Prisoners of the Empire: Educators' Guide (curricula)
- Curricula
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Coming of age, Companionship as salvation, Growing up - pain or pleasure, War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy, Overcoming - fear, weakness, vice, Patriotism - positive side or complications
- Widely available
This guide, produced by Random House is for the Prisoners of the Empire series of four books by Graham Salisbury of which Under the Blood-Red Sun is the first title. These young adult novels focus on Japanese Americans in Hawai'i during World War II. The other titles in the series are Eyes of the Emperor , House of the Red Fish , and Hunt for the Bamboo Rat .
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.
Racial Profiling (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8
- Grades 7-8
- Young Adult
- Evils of racism, Fear of other, Patriotism – positive side or complications, Rights - individual or societal
- Available
Book for middle schoolers that looks at both sides of the issue of racial profiling. One chapter focuses on the World War II exclusion and incarceration of Japanese Americans.
Our Burden of Shame: Japanese-American Internment During World War II (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Children's, History
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Hazards of passing judgment, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Available
Book by Susan Sinnott on the wartime forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans intended for a middle-school audience and published by Franklin Watts in 1995.
A Lesson in American History: The Japanese American Experience, Curriculum and Resource Guide, 5th Edition (curricula)
- Curricula
- Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Fear of other, Injustice, Rights, War
Created by the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), this 150-page guide for teachers is a comprehensive resource focused on the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. It provides historical information, a timeline, an annotated listing of K-12 resource materials (books, audio and visual works, websites, museum exhibits, agencies and organizations), K-6 and 7-12 lesson plans, and an appendix of various primary source materials. The content also covers other historic events when the government restricted the rights of individual citizens in favor of national security, including the story of Arab and Muslim Americans in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.
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 .
Those Who Helped Us (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Coming of age, Heroism – real and perceived, Rights - individual or societal
- Available
Simply animated story set in Minidoka told in the first-person voice of a young Nisei girl named Sumi that highlights the role that key white supporters in and out of the concentration camps played in aiding Japanese Americans. After noting the deprivations Nikkei faced in the early months at Minidoka, Sumi notes the presence of Reverend Andy ( Emery Andrews ), who had come to minister to his flock all the way from Seattle. Later, she highlights the role played by Thomas Bodine of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council and Father Leopold Tibesar in helping Sumi's older sister, Yuri, leave Minidoka to attend college in Philadelphia. The black and white animation turns to color as Yuri leaves camp. After the main story, author Ken Mochizuki provides brief profiles of Andrews, Bodine, and Tibesar, along with Minidoka Education Superintendent Arthur Kleinkopf and Deaconess Margaret Peppers, both of whom are …
Fujikawa (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Beauty of simplicity, Man against nature, Wisdom of experience
- Limited availability
Documentary film that profiles second generation fisherman Fred Fujikawa through the eyes of his nineteen-year-old nephew Michael Shiroishi. Narrated in Shiroishi's first-person voice, it is his first time accompanying his uncle. Over the course of the voyage, we learn about Fujikawa's family, who were among the Japanese Americans who settled on Terminal Island prior to World War II, along with the history of Japanese Americans in the fishing industry, while also getting a glimpse of life aboard a fishing boat and of Fujikawa and his brother building and launching a new boat. There is a brief segment on the internment of Terminal Island fishermen—including Shiroishi's grandfather—and the subsequent destruction of the Japanese American community there. "It's a sad deal," recalls Fujikawa.
Yonsei Eyes (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Power of the past, Quest for discovery, Wisdom of experience
- Widely available
Documentary film that follows young Yonsei siblings Mika & Lee Osaki as they go on a pilgrimage to Tule Lake in 2016, their first trip to the camp in which both of their grandfathers had been held. Mika and Lee's narration of their trip is intercut with interview footage of both grandfathers, Tsukasa Matsueda (1925–2011) and Wayne Osaki (1923–2015).
The Japanese American (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice, Power of tradition, Social mobility
- Widely available
Short film produced by Handel Film Corporation in 1974 that provides an overview of the Japanese American experience. Almost entirely focusing on the West Coast experience, much of it is devoted to the wartime removal and incarceration.
Legacy of the Barracks (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Power of the past, Quest for discovery, Wisdom of experience
- Limited availability
Locally produced 1994 documentary by Los Angeles TV station KABC hosted by Tricia Takasugi about a project to bring two barracks from Heart Mountain , Wyoming, back to Los Angeles for display at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM). We see volunteers in Wyoming carefully dismantling the barracks, numbering them, and loading them onto trucks, then putting one back together in a parking lot across the street from JANM, where it will accompany the exhibition, America's Concentration Camps . The second barracks was used in the core exhibition in the museum's new building that opened six years later. Several volunteers who worked on the project are interviewed, as are some JANM staffers. (Some of the interview footage with Bacon Sakatani —as well as some footage and narration—is recycled from an earlier KABC documentary, Memories of the Camps [1992].)
Yae Wada: 45 Years of Anger (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 6-8, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Immigrant experience, Injustice, Power of the past
- Widely available
Video documentary produced by "What Does It Mean To Be American?" as part of the Mineta Legacy Project, which features an interview with former Japanese American incarceree, Yae Wada . [1] At the age of 99, Wada recounts her memories of being placed in concentration camps during World War II, and how she overcame her anger towards the experience.
Allegiance (play)
- Plays
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Musical
- Convention and rebellion, Family – blessing or curse, Heroism – real and perceived, Patriotism – positive side or complications, Role of women
- No availability
Musical play set largely in Heart Mountain that had a three-month run on Broadway in 2015–16. Written by Marc Acito, Jay Kuo, and Lorenzo Thione with music and lyrics by Kuo and starring George Takei and Lea Salonga, Allegiance was the first Broadway play to broach the subject of Japanese American forced removal and incarceration during World War II.