Thin Wood Walls

Eleven-year-old Joe Hanada likes playing basketball with his best friend, Ray, writing plays and stories, and thinking about the upcoming Christmas holiday. But his world falls apart when Japanese planes bomb Pearl Harbor. His country goes to war. The FBI takes his father away. And neighbors and friends in his hometown near Seattle begin to suspect Joe, his family, and all Japanese Americans of spying for the enemy. When the government orders people of Japanese heritage living on the West Coast to move to internment camps, including Joe and his family, Joe turns to the journal his father gave him to record his thoughts and feelings.

Forced to leave everything he knows behind, Joe must grapple with a heart-wrenching question: how do you stay loyal to a country that sees you as the enemy?

• WWII Historical Fiction: Step into the American home front after Pearl Harbor through the eyes of an eleven-year-old boy whose world is changed overnight.
• An Unbreakable Friendship: A powerful story of two best friends, one Japanese American and one white, whose bond is tested by the fear and suspicion that divides their town.
• Family Separation and Resilience: When his father is taken by the FBI and his family is sent to a relocation camp, Joe must find strength he never knew he had.
• A Powerful Coming of Age Story: Faced with injustice, Joe confronts difficult questions about loyalty, identity, and what it truly means to be an American.