Middle Grade Review: Heroes

Frank and Stanley are best friends, growing up on Pearl Harbor. They love superheroes and work together to create comic books. Frank writes the stories and Stanley draws them. They were meeting with a family friend on the USS Utah for a tour. 

The tour has barely started when Japanese planes flew overhead dropping bombs. From that moment on, Frank and Stanley's lives were in danger. They fight to make their way back home. 

Frank is white and Stanley is Japanese American. While the boys get back home, Stanley's mother recognizes that things have changed. She's burying their Japanese ancestry items.  People start looking at them differently afterwards. 

Even when they get home, the boys are not safe. 

My Thoughts: The story takes place in three parts: Before, During, and After. I loved the different parts and the fact that the book took place mostly in one day. There's lot of action and danger that kept me turning the pages quickly. I felt terrible for both the boys for all the horrors they witnessed. However, I felt worse for Stanley has he dealt with racism from people who had known his family.  While this book doesn't go much beyond the day of the attack, it does talk about the horrific history of the Japanese internment camps. I really enjoyed the question that this book sets out to answer: What makes a hero? I love how it worked as a topic for the main characters but also for the country. The point that we joined the war after an attack and not before raises some questions.  This is a great book for an introduction to Pearl Habor and the reasons America joined to war. 

Cover Thoughts: Great

Source: Checked out from the library

Library Recommendation: Highly recommended for your school and public library's collection.