Teen Review by Hannah H., 16Displacement, a graphic novel by Kiku Hughes, takes your imagination on a wild adventure with a page-turning story line and excellent artistic work. This graphic novel by Hughes speaks about identity, confusion, and the power of the memory of the 1940 Japanese American internment camps, and their impact on the main character, Kiku, and her family. Curious yet timid, Kiku struggles to ask her mother about her Japanese ancestry when in San Francisco. After receiving minimal information about her heritage, Kiku suddenly finds her modern clothes replaced with classic 1940’s attire, and a heavy fog that goes as suddenly as it came. Where is Kiku? What was happening? Over the course of a year, Kiku discovers the hardships and the injustices that the Japanese American’s faced in the 1940 internment camps. Our protagonist grapples with being out of her own time, living right next to her own grandmother, and surviving under the circumstances at the camp. Additionally, Hughes paints an outstanding picture of the living conditions in these camps, such as poor housing and schooling opportunities. While writing with amazing emotion that brings unique life to Kiku’s family history, Hughes added some modern political statements that I personally felt were not necessary and did not add to the story. Overall, I sincerely enjoyed this short-- yet sweet --graphic novel called Displacement. This well-done work has sparked my interest in WWII history, and I hope you will stop by the Coeur d'Alene library to enjoy it as well. Read-alikes REFERENCES
CIN Catalog. (2020). Retrieved from: https://catalog.cin.bywatersolutions.com/ Goodreads [Cover Images]. (2020). Retrieved from: https://www.goodreads.com/ Hannah H. (2020, September). Teen Review. NoveList Plus: Displacement [Genre/Themes and Read-alikes]. (2020). Retrieved from: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=neh&tg=UI&an=10908065&site=novp-live&custid=s5664038 Overdrive Catalog. (2020). Retrieved from: https://cin.overdrive.com/
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Teen Review by Hannah H., 16This phenomenal book, 28 days: A Novel of Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto by David Safier, features a tale of suffering, struggle, and unrefined bravery. Courageous yet fearful, the protagonist Mira has to risk everything to smuggle food from the Polish outside into the Ghetto to keep her family, and herself, alive. In the start of this paperback, Safier describes Mira in the first person while she tells of life in the Ghetto, the peril of smuggling, and the horrible ways the Nazi police treat the desperate Jews. Terrified, Mira almost gets caught by szmalcowniks, or Jewish bounty hunters, and is saved by an unlikely hero: an apparent Polish teen boy who turns Mira’s world upside down. Safier does an excellent job of describing the action-packed scenes of his novel, which make this published work a real page turner. However, some of his descriptions are distasteful and unnecessary, and even with my love of war films and books, I still frown upon some of his more gruesome passages. Even with the cons, this Safier novel is outstanding I would definitely recommend it. At the beginning of this volume, I was always thinking, “What will happen next?” and I constantly learned something new while reading this book. Learning of life in the Warsaw Ghetto really opened my eyes to what a girl my age would have to endure for her family. Protagonist Mira is constantly making sacrifices and life-or-death decisions, something a 16-year-old in the modern world rarely has to worry about. What would it have been like to be in Mira’s shoes? What if I had to smuggle food to keep my family fed? What if I had to join a resistance to defend my home? I definitely recommend this work, and make sure to stop by the Coeur d’ Alene library to enjoy it and many more amazing books like it. Read-alikes REFERENCES
CIN Catalog. (2020). Retrieved from: https://catalog.cin.bywatersolutions.com/ Goodreads [Cover Images]. (2020). Retrieved from: https://www.goodreads.com/ Hannah H. (2020, July). Teen Review. NoveList Plus: 28 Days: A Novel of Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto [Genre/Themes and Read-alikes]. (2020). Retrieved from: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=neh&tg=UI&an=10884560&site=novp-live&custid=s5664038 Official Discussion Guide. (2020). Macmillan. Retrieved from: https://images.macmillan.com/folio-assets/discusion-guides/9781250237149DG.pdf Overdrive Catalog. (2020). Retrieved from: https://cin.overdrive.com/ |
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