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Under the Blood-Red Sun
Salisbury, Graham. Under the Blood-Red Sun. New York, NY: Dell Yearling, 1994. X. 249p. ISBN 0-440-41139-4 (hc), $13.55.
Graham Salisbury’s Under the Blood-Red Sun portrays the struggle of a young Japanese American boy during the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Tomikazu is conflicted between his Japanese cultural heritage and being American. His parents and grandfather were born in Japan but immigrated to Hawaii to escape poverty. Tomi and his friends are oblivious to the looming clouds of war in the Pacific. They are too busy being eighth-graders. Everything changes for Tomi when Pearl Harbor is bombed. His grandfather and father are arrested. Tomi is forced to take care of his family while dealing with racism. It is a horrifying time to be Japanese American in America. Even though many other Americans did not trust ethnic Japanese, Tomi can count on the loyalty of his friends to help him through this difficult time. This novel has many themes that are pertinent to young adults such as loyalty, stereotypes, prejudice, justice, and baseball.
The author, Graham Salisbury was born in Pennsylvania but grew up in Hawai’i before moving to Portland, Oregon. Salisbury is a descendant of the Thurston and Andrews families, who were among the first missionaries to arrive in the Hawaiian Islands. His father was in the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor during the bombing but survived. Graham has written eight young adult novels: House of the Red Fish, Eyes of the Emperor, Under the Blood-Red Sun, Island Boyz, Lord of the Deep, Jungle Dogs, Jungle Bait and Blue Skin of the Sea. He also has many other published works such as short stories and essays. He has won numerous awards such as, Boston Globe / Horn Book, ALA Best Books for Young Adults designation and Hawai’i’s Nene Award. He also won the Scott O’Dell Award for historical fiction for Under the Blood-Red Sun.
This novel is successful in capturing the Japanese American experience during the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor bombing. Salisbury gives an accurate portrayal of prejudice towards Japanese Americans as well as telling a coming of age story. It is a story that needs to be told. Many Americans focus on the bombing of Pearl Harbor without recognizing the struggle and injustices that Japanese Americans endured during that time.
This book is not just for serious history buffs. It is filled with the narrator’s love for baseball and joking around with his friends. Tomi’s grandfather and his friends Mose and Rico offer much needed comic relief to this novel that makes it more accessible to a young adult audience.
This reviewer highly recommends this book for school libraries. Public school librarians should recommend to teachers that this book be placed in the curriculum to promote historical awareness in all 50 states. This book is instrumental in providing a better understanding of the Japanese American experience in Hawai’i during World War II in America, which tends to be a chapter overlooked in American history.
The novel Nisei Daughter, by Monica Itoi Stone (University of Washington Press, 1979), would make a great companion novel to Under the Blood-Red Sun. Nisei Daughter tells the story of a Japanese American young girl who experiences the Japanese interment camps in Idaho. Another companion novel would be Keiji Nakazawa’s Barefoot Gen Volume One: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, (Last Gasp of San Francisco, 2004). This graphic novel shows the Japanese experience in Japan before and after the bombing of Hiroshima. Readers will have a well-rounded perspective of the Japanese and American conflict during World War II by reading these novels.
Graham Salisbury’s Under the Blood-Red Sun portrays the struggle of a young Japanese American boy during the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Tomikazu is conflicted between his Japanese cultural heritage and being American. His parents and grandfather were born in Japan but immigrated to Hawaii to escape poverty. Tomi and his friends are oblivious to the looming clouds of war in the Pacific. They are too busy being eighth-graders. Everything changes for Tomi when Pearl Harbor is bombed. His grandfather and father are arrested. Tomi is forced to take care of his family while dealing with racism. It is a horrifying time to be Japanese American in America. Even though many other Americans did not trust ethnic Japanese, Tomi can count on the loyalty of his friends to help him through this difficult time. This novel has many themes that are pertinent to young adults such as loyalty, stereotypes, prejudice, justice, and baseball.
The author, Graham Salisbury was born in Pennsylvania but grew up in Hawai’i before moving to Portland, Oregon. Salisbury is a descendant of the Thurston and Andrews families, who were among the first missionaries to arrive in the Hawaiian Islands. His father was in the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor during the bombing but survived. Graham has written eight young adult novels: House of the Red Fish, Eyes of the Emperor, Under the Blood-Red Sun, Island Boyz, Lord of the Deep, Jungle Dogs, Jungle Bait and Blue Skin of the Sea. He also has many other published works such as short stories and essays. He has won numerous awards such as, Boston Globe / Horn Book, ALA Best Books for Young Adults designation and Hawai’i’s Nene Award. He also won the Scott O’Dell Award for historical fiction for Under the Blood-Red Sun.
This novel is successful in capturing the Japanese American experience during the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor bombing. Salisbury gives an accurate portrayal of prejudice towards Japanese Americans as well as telling a coming of age story. It is a story that needs to be told. Many Americans focus on the bombing of Pearl Harbor without recognizing the struggle and injustices that Japanese Americans endured during that time.
This book is not just for serious history buffs. It is filled with the narrator’s love for baseball and joking around with his friends. Tomi’s grandfather and his friends Mose and Rico offer much needed comic relief to this novel that makes it more accessible to a young adult audience.
This reviewer highly recommends this book for school libraries. Public school librarians should recommend to teachers that this book be placed in the curriculum to promote historical awareness in all 50 states. This book is instrumental in providing a better understanding of the Japanese American experience in Hawai’i during World War II in America, which tends to be a chapter overlooked in American history.
The novel Nisei Daughter, by Monica Itoi Stone (University of Washington Press, 1979), would make a great companion novel to Under the Blood-Red Sun. Nisei Daughter tells the story of a Japanese American young girl who experiences the Japanese interment camps in Idaho. Another companion novel would be Keiji Nakazawa’s Barefoot Gen Volume One: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, (Last Gasp of San Francisco, 2004). This graphic novel shows the Japanese experience in Japan before and after the bombing of Hiroshima. Readers will have a well-rounded perspective of the Japanese and American conflict during World War II by reading these novels.
Submitted in May 2007 by Jennifer Mylett, LIS Student, University of Hawai’i at Manoa.
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