“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.

I loved this book. As historical fiction, it's informative and captivating, although tragic. The perspective-switching chapter-by-chapter was one of my favorite things, though others may it confusing. Each character was unique and wonderful and had character development throughout their own chapter. The author, Traci Chee, even wrote one of the chapters entirely in the second person, a feat I find admirable based on how little it is used in the English language, and also how difficult it is in general. 

We Are Not Free is a necessary book talking about the horrors of the Japanese internment camps during World War 2. Each character has a different reaction, from "Screw this" to "It couldn't be that bad!" It shows how much the internment camps changed people's lives, and the ending nicely portrays how getting rid of the internment camps doesn't fix the horrific impact they had. 

This is a definite re-read for me, and something worth checking out! 

We recommend this book for ages 12+ or so.

-Pigeon (also, check out this book's review and others on my Goodreads, especially if you want to read my review (AKA roast) for Twilight.)