We Are Not Free

Historical Fiction/Audiobook

We are not free

By Traci Chee

Format: 384 pages, Hardcover

Published: September 1, 2020 by HMH Books for Young Readers

ISBN: 9780358131434 (ISBN10: 035813143X)

Book summary from publisher:

“All around me, my friends are talking, joking, laughing. Outside is the camp, the barbed wire, the guard towers, the city, the country that hates us.

We are not free.

But we are not alone.” 

We Are Not Free, is the collective account of a tight-knit group of young Nisei, second-generation Japanese American citizens, whose lives are irrevocably changed by the mass U.S. incarcerations of World War II.

Fourteen teens who have grown up together in Japantown, San Francisco. Fourteen teens who form a community and a family, as interconnected as they are conflicted.

Fourteen teens whose lives are turned upside down when over 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry are removed from their homes and forced into desolate incarceration camps.

In a world that seems determined to hate them, these young Nisei must rally together as racism and injustice threaten to pull them apart. 

My Thoughts: 

This was my favorite read in February. This work of historical fiction is compellingly told through the voices of 14 teenagers affected by the mass incarceration of Japanese and Japanese American citizens after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In addition to being deeply moving and illuminating, this novel will help teenage readers understand the injustice and devastation that comes from "othering" and abusing people under the guise of maintaining safety and national security. The audiobook is narrated by multiple people and is an excellent option for students who enjoy or require audiobooks. 

I would use this Printz Honor winner for displays on historical events, social justice, AAPI fiction, and historical fiction, and projects that require historical fiction.