They Called Us Enemy

Do your students like graphic novels? If so, they will also appreciate this graphic memoir. When only four years old George was awakened to find his own birth country at war with his father’s country. The entire family was forced into an uncertain future. That future is illustrated and told in this graphic memoir. Students will have a first-hand account of life behind barbed wire, the difficult choices George’s mother was forced to make, and his father’s faith in democracy. It was a haunting childhood. He was one of 120,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned by the United States government during World War II. As readers delve into this memoir they will better understand courage, loyalty, and love. The book explores what it means to be an American and who gets to decide the answer to that question. Students are confronted with choices that must be made when the world is against you? What can one person do when this happens?  This book is a winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature.

About the Author

Long before he was an actor on Star Trek, George lived as a Japanese-American child in an internment camp. This book is his story and the part of his life that students should know about.

Pathways: Personal Feelings & Growth, Yesterday, Social Issues & Culture

Reviewed by Krystal Bishop, EdD

Professor of Education

Southern Adventist University

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