Thank you NetGalley and HMH Books for Young Readers for the ARC of We Are Not Free by Traci Chee in return for an honest review. This historical fiction story was told through the stories of fourteen friends that grew up in Japantown, San Francisco. After the attack on Pearl Harbour, their Japanese American families were uprooted from their homes and put in concentration camps. The stories told are raw and strong with emotion showing the racism and injustices these families faced. I would recommend this book for high school rather than middle school due to the F-word being used. The authors comments written at the end of the book explain her families experiences and should not be overlooked.

A beautifully written story. Many perspectives are used but they're kept chronological, which is interesting. I haven't come across other YA books on this subject, and certainly none as compelling. I will be purchasing this for my public library.

This transformative story shines a light on the U.S. Government’s decision to incarcerate Japanese-Americans in internment camps in response to Pearl Harbour. Chee chose to focus on the perspectives of Japanese teens who were taken so suddenly from their homes, and each of their experiences on the inside. I think this is an important story. It was well researched by the author, and given her personal family connections to this point in history, the voices feel authentic. Chee’s integration of archived photographs and camp newspaper articles added something special to each viewpoint... making the reader feel more compassion for the characters and the struggle to make sense of what was happening to them. The long-term effects of these camps is something that we need to learn from, given our world’s current political mess.
My criticism: too many perspectives hindered my connection with each character. It felt disruptive to jump from character to character, and made me lose interest in some of the storylines. I think a few characters could have been cut out to improve the story’s momentum. Due to the language used and the multiple-narrative format, I would likely still recommend this to high school libraries but will not purchase it for my K-8 library.

I don't think I've ever read a fiction book which tells the story of the internment of Japanese Americans in the US following the bombing of Pearl Harbour during WWII. This is undoubtedly a very important book and it is clear that the author has thoroughly researched the time period and the experiences of people who lived through this horrific and tragically ignored period of history. Whilst I did appreciate the author's attempts at showing the vast and differing experiences of individuals, I felt that the use of a different narrator for each chapter in the book gave a slightly disjointed impression overall. To be honest, I often got confused about which character was which and I found myself less invested in individuals' stories because of this. The book is clearly supposed to be character-driven, as there is no real defining plot line, so I was slightly disappointed by my resulting disinterest in individual characters. Having said all this, I would still recommend this book to people as it covers such an under-explored yet important topic of history that deserves to be remembered in the same way as other injustices. It was incredibly interesting and thought-provoking yet still remained fairly easy to read.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Traci Chee pulls from extensive research and her own family history to craft an immersive, authentic novel of the forced removal of over 100,000 Japanese-Americans to internment camps during World War II. Chee’s decision to have readers experience the novel through the eyes of 14 friends (most of whom are from the same Japantown neighborhood in San Francisco) could have resulted in a confusing, snarled-up mess. Instead, the unique events that each of these teens experience allow readers to get a more comprehensive view of the magnitude of the indignities toward American citizens, the hypocrisy of our government, and the long-term effects of their incarcerations. This is transformative, essential historical fiction that should be in every public and high school library.

Much appreciation to NetGalley and HMH Books for Young Readers for the advance readers copy.