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Tradition
A Japanese-American brother and sister struggle to win acceptance by their contemporaries.
250 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1946
16 people want to read
About the author
Anne Emery
80 books33 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Anne Emery was born Anne Eleanor McGuigan, in Fargo, North Dakota, and moved to Evanston, Illinois, when she was nine years old. Miss McGuigan attended Evanston Township High School and Northwestern University. Following her graduation from college, her father, a university professor, took the family of five children abroad for a year, where they visited his birthplace in Northern Ireland, as well as the British Isles, France, Switzerland, and Italy. Miss McGuigan spent nine months studying at the University of Grenoble in France. She taught seventh and eighth grades for four years in the Evanston Schools, and fourth and fifth grades for six more years after her marriage to John Emery. She retired from teaching to care for her husband and five children, Mary, Kate, Joan, Robert, and Martha.
Anne Emery wrote books and short stories for teen girls throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Her understanding of the lives of teenaged girls creates believable stories and characters that are readable and re-readable!
Anne Emery was born Anne Eleanor McGuigan, in Fargo, North Dakota, and moved to Evanston, Illinois, when she was nine years old. Miss McGuigan attended Evanston Township High School and Northwestern University. Following her graduation from college, her father, a university professor, took the family of five children abroad for a year, where they visited his birthplace in Northern Ireland, as well as the British Isles, France, Switzerland, and Italy. Miss McGuigan spent nine months studying at the University of Grenoble in France. She taught seventh and eighth grades for four years in the Evanston Schools, and fourth and fifth grades for six more years after her marriage to John Emery. She retired from teaching to care for her husband and five children, Mary, Kate, Joan, Robert, and Martha.
Anne Emery wrote books and short stories for teen girls throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Her understanding of the lives of teenaged girls creates believable stories and characters that are readable and re-readable!
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 24, 2025
The message of this 1946 novel for teens (racial prejudice is bad) feels more progressive than much of today's current political thought. However the overearnest tone makes the story a little clunky.
Stacy Kennedy is initially unsure of how she feels about the Okamota family moving in next door, in their conservative Chicago suburb. After all, her brother Thorne is far away in the South Pacific fighting the Japanese. But after she gets to know Charlie and particularly Dorothy Okamota, and comes to admire them, and sees how unfairly and cruelly they are treated by the mostly hostile town, she becomes their staunch supporter. The title refers to most of the local people taking pride in having American ancestors going many generations back, and vaunting an American historical "tradition." Stacy's family doesn't share this feeling (perhaps because they are of Irish descent, although this isn't made explicit).
Stacy is eventually instrumental in making the family feel more accepted in the community, but the Okamotos have to go through some pretty harrowing things first. Interestingly, the author is aware that there is also prejudice against African-Americans (one of the characters reflects that talented black athletes are always welcome on the high school sports teams, but black people are never given city bus driving jobs), but she doesn't seem to feel the need to directly challenge it as she does prejudice against Japanese Americans.
Tradition means well, and it's not badly written, but it's just not as much fun as some of Anne Emery's other books, in particular the Dinny Gordon series which I enjoyed quite a bit.
Stacy Kennedy is initially unsure of how she feels about the Okamota family moving in next door, in their conservative Chicago suburb. After all, her brother Thorne is far away in the South Pacific fighting the Japanese. But after she gets to know Charlie and particularly Dorothy Okamota, and comes to admire them, and sees how unfairly and cruelly they are treated by the mostly hostile town, she becomes their staunch supporter. The title refers to most of the local people taking pride in having American ancestors going many generations back, and vaunting an American historical "tradition." Stacy's family doesn't share this feeling (perhaps because they are of Irish descent, although this isn't made explicit).
Stacy is eventually instrumental in making the family feel more accepted in the community, but the Okamotos have to go through some pretty harrowing things first. Interestingly, the author is aware that there is also prejudice against African-Americans (one of the characters reflects that talented black athletes are always welcome on the high school sports teams, but black people are never given city bus driving jobs), but she doesn't seem to feel the need to directly challenge it as she does prejudice against Japanese Americans.
Tradition means well, and it's not badly written, but it's just not as much fun as some of Anne Emery's other books, in particular the Dinny Gordon series which I enjoyed quite a bit.
February 28, 2020
Lots of patriotism here. Acceptance of people no matter what color, religion, or creed is the message in this book and all of that is true in any era. I just can't put my finger on why I didn't like this book more. It was written during World War 2 when people of Japanese-American descent were put into "camps" because their tell-tale features could be confused with those of the enemy. I think that was awful. In this book, an acceptable Japanese-American family of several generations moves into the neighborhood of a small traditional town near Chicago. Many (most) of the townspeople want to run the Okomoto family out of town. They have a son fighting in the war. Their son and daughter who attend the local high school are very intelligent accomplished teens. Stacy Kennedy, who lives next door to the Okomotos, starts a Creed for tolerance in the high school.
Anne Emery's books are often deeper than other maltshop authors. She delves into more serious issues than just drinking sodas at the local malt shop. So why don't I like this book more?
Anne Emery's books are often deeper than other maltshop authors. She delves into more serious issues than just drinking sodas at the local malt shop. So why don't I like this book more?
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews