Bookverdict.com

Gr 7 Up—Yuki Nakahara is American. He was born in California, wears jeans, and has never even visited another country—but at the start of World War II he becomes aware that other Americans see him as a foreign enemy. His family is one of the thousands of Japanese American citizens arrested and forcibly transferred to internment camps in the rural desert. Although depressed about their situation, Yuki and friend Shig decide to join the army to fight for their country and to prove once and for all that ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

The book's title refers to the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team, which was composed entirely of Issei and Nisei (first-generation Japanese immigrants and their children, respectively) who served in WWII, and which earned the name Purple Heart Battalion because so many of its soldiers were either wounded or killed in battle. In December 1941, Hughes's protagonist, Berkeley high-schooler Yuki Nakahara, watches helplessly as FBI agents arrest his father as a spy and unceremoniously haul him away. Less than six months later, Yuk...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

In 1942, Yuki and his siblings, all American citizens, are deported with their mother to the Topaz internment camp. Yet Yu...Log In or Sign Up to Read More