Kevin C. Pyle

This book tells two stories in alternating chunks: one involving a Japanese boy whose family is moved to an internment camp at the outbreak of World War II; the other one involving a teenaged boy who moves to the suburbs in the 1970s and becomes a daredevil and shoplifter. I was a little confused for most of the book as to how (or whether) the two stories were going to intertwine. But they eventually did, although not quite how I would have expected. It's visually very interesting; as on the show more cover, the two stories are told in two different colors, and with slightly different art styles. The internment camp story is also told entirely through images, which added an interesting element to the story, although it meant that I couldn't always tell what was going on in some panels. Overall, a quick and interesting read that's a bit of a departure from my normal graphic novel fare. 4 out of 5 stars. show less

I really liked the sepia-toned pictures of the WWI era story and the contrast with the blue tones of the suburban world of the kids. The story does lend itself to a profound discussion of how easy it is to make someone even slightly different into an "other." The Japanese-American store owner is interned as a boy, then made the prey of some teens looking for excitement. I thought the transformation of the boy who stole from him was effective -- not too much, but just enough.

In this graphic novel, the story of two young boys run parallel -- one a young troublemaker in a Chicago suburb, the other a Japanese-American in a World War II internment camp.

Although I appreciated the stories of both characters, I felt a little like the historical aspect was cheapened by the contemporary story.

Interesting parallel stories merge in a surprising way. The depictions of the internment camp are particularly powerful.