ALA Booklist

Koji is living with his white mother in San Francisco when Japanese planes attack Pearl Harbor, and almost immediately, they are accused of being spies. Life as a half Japanese teenager in San Francisco was hard enough, but once Koji and his mother are sent to Alameda Downs, an internment camp, he finds he is still an outsider and subject to more racial slurs, this time from other Japanese boys. Railing against the white soldiers who fawn over his mother, and the ragtag bullies who beat him up and rope him in to doing their dirty work, Koji doesn't know where to turn. The sparse text lends little in the way of depth, but Faulkner's painterly cross-hatched watercolor artwork fills in the gaps with sweeping maps, detailed backgrounds depicting the conditions at Alameda, and exaggerated, caricature-­like expressions on his characters, many of whom loom large during intense moments and spill over the boundaries of their panels. An author's note about the inspiration for the story ulkner's Irish great-aunt spent time at Manzanar d some further reading suggestions conclude.

Horn Book

On Koji's thirteenth birthday, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. Despite being only half-Japanese, Koji is forced to report to the Alameda Downs Assembly Center where his (white) mother voluntarily accompanies him. Through astute choices of medium (pen and watercolor), color (earth tones with red and blue accents), and composition (shifting perspectives and panel layouts), Faulkner creates a vivid and compelling internment-camp graphic novel. Reading list, websites.

Kirkus Reviews

After the United States enters World War II, a half-Japanese teen and his white mother find themselves interned at the Alameda Downs Assembly Center. Everything changes for 13-year-old Koji Miyamoto after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. His schoolmates accuse him of being a "Jap spy," and streetcars refuse to stop for him on the street. It doesn't help that his father has returned to Japan; Koji worries that his father may be fighting for the Japanese in the war. When Koji receives a summons to a "relocation" camp, his mother, Adeline, chooses to accompany him. The living conditions at Alameda Downs are deplorable, but Koji struggles even more with his outsider status. The other camp teenagers call him gaijin, involve him in brawls and spread gossip about his mother. Inspired by the true story of Faulkner's great-aunt, the graphic novel features gouache illustrations that deftly capture Koji's anger and frustration when he's rejected by his peers and treated as an "enemy alien" despite his citizenship. The simple text provides enough historical context to help young readers who may be unfamiliar with the history of Japanese-American internment to understand Koji's story. An accessible account about a dark—and still too-little-known—moment in American history. (author's note, resources) (Graphic historical fiction. 9-12)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Faulkner (A Taste of Colored Water) draws on his own ancestry as inspiration for the story of 13-year-old Koji Miyamoto, a half-Japanese boy who is sent to an internment camp during WWII. Like many people of mixed race, Koji doesn't seem to fit in anywhere-harassed and called "slanty eyes" and a "Jap spy" by Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and a "gaijin" (a pejorative for foreigner) by the Japanese at the camp. Even with a loving mother and avuncular neighbor, Koji dreams of his father, who is abroad in Japan and whose absence places Koji under suspicion by the FBI. Aimless and filled with self-doubt, Koji begins to act out by committing petty theft and disrespecting authority, including his mother. Compassion becomes the key to Koji's salvation, and Faulkner's narrative elicits real pathos. Yet the book's true strength lies in its rich palette and painted visuals that, appropriately enough, evoke a mix between Japanese woodblock prints and Norman Rockwell paintings. Ages 8-12. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Apr.)

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8 In 1941, biracial Koji and his mother hear about the attacks on Pearl Harbor from their home in San Francisco. As tensions escalate, Mrs. Miyamoto volunteers to accompany her son to the Japanese relocation camp, where Koji has to navigate the hostile environment and the social pressures of the other teenage boys. Throughout all this, his father is absent, and Koji worries if he is the traitor the U.S. government suspects him to be. The artwork is lovely, with gestural lines and colors that are warm and redolent of age and memory, and which bridge caricature and realism. However, the dialogue and word balloons lack a similar finesse, as they are garishly large and convey little subtlety of emotion. They make the protagonist seem loud and immature, and generally pitch the book younger than his age. This is problematic, as he is old enough to worry about his mother, and harbors suspicions that she is having affairs for favorable treatment in the campissues somewhat beyond the scope of a children's book. Emotions at the times ran high, and the issues depicted are complex; this book doesn't quite capture that complexity. Benjamin Russell, Belmont High School, NH

Voice of Youth Advocates

The bombing of Pearl Harbor did more than turn the tide of World War II; it created widespread fear across the United States towards anyone with Japanese ancestry, leading over 100,000 Americans, many of whom were children, to be placed in internment camps. With a Japanese father and an Irish-American mother, thirteen-year-old Koji Miyamoto becomes the target of bullying and prejudice until he and his mother are relocated. The bullying, however, continues, and instead of being called "Jap," the other boys call him "gaijin," or foreigner.Gaijin: American Prisoner of War follows Koji before, during, and after the camp, when (many years later) he reunites with his father in Japan. Faulkner effectively portrays a boy caught between two worlds, paying for an act of violence he did not commit. The dialogue and pacing are done well, but it is the artgorgeous, stylized, and expressivethat really tells the story. Muted blues and yellows are periodically interrupted by fiery reds and bold greens during Koji's dreams about his father. Gaijin: American Prisoner of War is based on the experiences of Faulkner's great-aunt, and her story is explained at the end of the book along with selected resources for further study about Japanese internment. Faulkner has effectively filled a gap by creating an interesting, appealing, and accessible graphic novel on Japanese internment. This is an important book that should be in every collection.Marissa Wolf.