Browse > Reading Level > Grades 7-8
61 articles
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.
Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese-American Internment Camps (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Memoir, Children's
- Evils of racism, Facing darkness, Family – blessing or curse, Injustice, Loss of innocence, Power of the past
- Widely available
Incarceration memoir of life at Pinedale Assembly Center , Tule Lake , and Minidoka , by Mary Matsuda Gruenewald, a seventeen-year-old Nisei at the time of her and her family's forced removal from their Washington state farm. First published in 2005 by NewSage Press, it was followed by a young reader's edition in 2010.
Missing in Action (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 part-Navajo teenager moves with his mother to her hometown of Delta, Utah, and his struggle to find his own identity is aided by his friendship with Ken, a Japanese American teenager, who refuses to allow his family's incarceration at nearby Topaz defeat his spirit.
Home of the Brave (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Children's
- Injustice, Knowledge versus ignorance, Power of the past, Progress – real or illusion
- Widely available
Children's picture book by Allen Say inspired by the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
America's Betrayal (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 7-8
- Fiction, History
- Coming of age, Companionship as salvation, Everlasting love, Evils of racism, Female roles, Losing hope, Will to survive
- Limited availability
Young adult novel by Jodi Icenoggle written in the first person voice of Margaret Yamaguchi, a high school sophomore and aspiring writer in Valle Verde in coastal California. Her father runs a successful orchard and oversees a happy family that includes Margaret's mother, an older brother Robert, and younger brother Timmy. She has also started going steady with John Wilson, star athlete of Valle Verde High. But her happy life is slowly torn apart by the outbreak of war. As anti-Japanese sentiment rises after the attack on Pearl Harbor, so do tensions at the high school, particularly for an interracial couple like John and Margaret. Inevitably, the Yamaguchis get sent first to the Salinas Assembly Center , then to Poston , while John gets drafted. As family tragedies ensue, Margaret comes of age in the concentration camp, starting a camp newspaper and waiting for John to come back. But will …
Remembering Manzanar: Life in a Japanese Relocation Camp (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8
- Grades 7-8
- Young Adult, History
- Evils of racism, Injustice, Power of the past, Reunion, War – glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
- Widely available
Book for younger children about the Manzanar concentration camp.
A Fence Away From Freedom: Japanese-Americans and World War II (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 7-8
- Young Adult, History
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications, Power of the past
- Widely available
Book for young adults that tells the story of the wartime removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans through the oral history voices of those who were children and young adults at the time.
The Fences Between Us: The Diary of Piper Davis (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Children's, Historical Fiction
- Coming of age, Injustice, Loss of innocence
- Widely available
Novel for elementary and middle schoolers about a young white teenage girl's experience of World War II including the Japanese American removal and incarceration told in the form of a diary. The Fences Between Us is part of the Dear America series, all of which are written in the form of diaries by young women/girls from various key moments in U.S. history.
Farewell to Manzanar Educational Kit (curricula)
- Curricula
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Memoir, Drama, History
- Coming of age, Displacement, Evils of racism, Family - blessing or curse, Growing up - pain or pleasure, Injustice, Patriotism - positive side or complications, Power of the past
- Limited availability
In 2003, the Farewell to Manzanar Education Initiative distributed 10,000 copies of the Farewell to Manzanar Educational Kit to California public schools and public libraries. The kit consists of the book, Farewell to Manzanar and Related Readings (1998), a teaching guide for the book (1998), a VHS cassette of the Farewell to Manzanar made-for-television movie (1976) with an additional 35-minute classroom version, and a video study guide (2002). Separate elements of the kit are available for purchase (except for the video study guide).
Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During World War II and a Librarian Who Made a Difference (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Grades 7-8
- Young Adult
- Coming of age, Communication – verbal and nonverbal, Heroism – real and perceived, Injustice
- Widely available
Book for young adult readers by Joanne Oppenheim that tells the story of the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans through the wartime correspondence between a San Diego librarian and the incarcerated young people whom she had befriended at the library.