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Peace Is a Chain Reaction: How World War II Japanese Balloon Bombs Brought People of Two Nations Together
From an award-winning author comes a vivid depiction of an act of war from opposing sides of the conflict in World War II--and a rare reconciliation and wish for peace that evolved years later.
Adults wage war, while children are unwitting victims, pulled into a maelstrom of fear and hate without any choice. This is a story about two groups of teenagers on opposite sides of the world, forever connected by an act of war. It is a story about the adults some of those teens became, forever connected by acts of forgiveness, understanding, and peace. And it is a story about one remarkable man, whose heart belonged both to America and Japan, who put that peace and understanding in motion. Panning the camera wide, Tanya Lee Stone lays the global groundwork for the story's context before zooming in on the lives of the people involved, providing an intimate look at how their changing perspectives impact their actions. Through meticulous research, interviews, and archival photo curation, Stone skillfully weaves all of these stories together, illuminating how, despite the devastating pain and destruction caused by war, peace can be a chain reaction. Extensive back matter includes an author's note, source notes, bibliography, and index.
Adults wage war, while children are unwitting victims, pulled into a maelstrom of fear and hate without any choice. This is a story about two groups of teenagers on opposite sides of the world, forever connected by an act of war. It is a story about the adults some of those teens became, forever connected by acts of forgiveness, understanding, and peace. And it is a story about one remarkable man, whose heart belonged both to America and Japan, who put that peace and understanding in motion. Panning the camera wide, Tanya Lee Stone lays the global groundwork for the story's context before zooming in on the lives of the people involved, providing an intimate look at how their changing perspectives impact their actions. Through meticulous research, interviews, and archival photo curation, Stone skillfully weaves all of these stories together, illuminating how, despite the devastating pain and destruction caused by war, peace can be a chain reaction. Extensive back matter includes an author's note, source notes, bibliography, and index.
176 pages, Hardcover
Published September 13, 2022
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About the author
Tanya Lee Stone
86 books102 followersTanya Lee Stone is an award-winning author of books for kids and teens. Her work, which includes YA fiction (A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl), picture books (Elizabeth Leads the Way and Sandy's Circus), and nonfiction (Almost Astronauts and The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie) has won national awards such as the ALA's Sibert Medal, SCBWI's Golden Kite Award, YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction, Jane Addams Book Award Honor, Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, NCTE's Orbus Pictus, and Bank Street's Flora Steiglitz Award. Forthcoming titles include Who Says Women Can't Be Doctors?! and The House that Jane Built (Holt 2013) and Courage Has No Color (Candlewick 2013).
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
November 29, 2022
Richie’s Picks: PEACE IS A CHAIN REACTION: HOW WORLD WAR II JAPANESE BALLOON BOMBS BROUGHT PEOPLE OF TWO NATIONS TOGETHER by Tanya Lee Stone, Candlewick, September 2022, 176p., ISBN: 978-0-7636-7686-5
“I AM AN AMERICAN”
– Large sign posted outside a grocery store in Oakland, the day after Pearl Harbor. The store’s owner, a UC Berkeley graduate and an American of Japanese descent, was soon thereafter “detained,” and his store was shuttered. (A photo of the store and sign is one of many stunning images, captured by legendary photojournalist Dorothea Lange, that are included in this book.)
“I learned that Washington never told a lie,
I learned that soldiers seldom die,
I learned that everybody's free,
And that's what the teacher said to me,
And that's what I learned in school today,
That's what I learned in school.”
– Tom Paxton (1964)
“In actual fact, during the entire course of the war [WWII], there were only ten people in America convicted of spying for Japan. None of them were Japanese.
Remember, language is power. It is possible to take something awful, explain it away calmly, and give it a bland label to try to make it more easily digested or ignored by a general audience. It’s always important to question the meanings of things for yourself.
The WRA [U.S. War Relocation Authority] used similar tactics in documenting the forced removal and life in the ‘camps’ as they were called. It made short films showing serene detainees painting, exuberant young men playing baseball, laughing girls walking to their school where teachers taught a curriculum similar to what they would have had at home. The WRA also hired photographers, including famous photographer Dorothea Lange, to create well-curated images of cooperative, smiling people seeming to enjoy–or at least be making the most of–their current situation. Why? So the WRA could present a palatable view of the incarceration of innocent people to the world. Dorothea Lange did not capture the positive images the WRA was counting on, so they impounded the bulk of her photographs–including he negatives, prints, and undeveloped film.”
– from PEACE IS A CHAIN REACTION
“Right around New Year’s Day, 1945, the Japanese army released an unmanned balloon from the east coast of the main island of Honshu.
It was made of 600 pieces of paper glued together, in all likelihood, by schoolgirls. It measured 33 feet in diameter and when fully inflated held about 19,000 cubic feet of hydrogen. It carried several incendiary bombs.
The balloon rose into the currents of the jet stream and began its long path eastward. It was equipped with an ingenious equilibrium system that spit out hydrogen when it climbed too high and dropped sandbags when it dipped too low. The teardrop-shaped specter crossed 6,200 miles of the Pacific Ocean in two or three days, and finally fell apart on Jan. 4, 1945, landing in an orchard off Vine Hill Road, just east of Forestville.
‘It was 5 or 6, and Dad and I were going out to bring in the goat for the evening,’ said Terence Alberigi, who was 14 at the time and still lives in the area. ‘We heard a whistling sound, and we saw this thing fall from the sky. It hit an apple tree and broke a branch.’
Alberigi, now 91, estimates the contraption landed 150-200 feet from him and his father, Frank. ‘It fell behind a workman’s cabin,’ Terence said. ‘We weren’t that far from it.’
Frank Alberigi’s reaction? ‘What the hell is it?’ his son recalled.”
– Sonoma County Press Democrat (2022)
PEACE IS A CHAIN REACTION begins with a basic overview of the World War II nation combatants and alliances. Sibert medalist Tanya Lee Stone then delves into the infamous incarceration of more than 120,000 American citizens of Japanese descent in ten so-called “internment camps.”
Next, the book details the history of the Japanese balloon bombs. During WWII, school girls were tasked with fabricating these thirty-foot diameter paper balloons. The balloons were armed with incendiary bombs, filled with hydrogen, and released into the jetstream, which guided them across the Pacific Ocean toward the United States. Out of the hundreds of balloons that reached the U.S., one was responsible for fatalities. In May 1945, six people were killed in Bly, Oregon, while on a Saturday morning picnic. Those were the only deaths on the American continent as the result of enemy action during WWII.
These two historical topics are then connected, thanks to the efforts of the late Yuzuru John Takeshita, the American-born son of Japanese immigrants. Yuzuru spent half of his childhood living in Japan with his grandfather. Sent back to his home in Oregon as the war approached, he, his parents, and his seven American-born siblings were subsequently imprisoned during the war, first at the Topaz facility and then at Tule Lake.
Forty-two years later, Mr. Takeshita, by then a sociology professor, was responsible for bringing together some of the women who, as girls, were forced to help craft the balloons, with the families and friends of those six victims in Oregon. The Japanese women, who were heavy-hearted for having been part of the effort leading to the deaths of the six Americans, hand-folded one thousand paper cranes as a symbol of “one thousand wishes for peace.” The paper cranes, which Mr. Takeshita brought back from Japan, became a centerpiece of a ceremony held in Bly. Since that ceremony, a number of the now elderly women in Japan and the friends and families in Bly began communicating with and visiting each other, a practice which continued for years.
The well-researched and well-told PEACE IS A CHAIN REACTION is filled with fascinating historical detail, and topped off with the inspired actions of peacemakers to heal hatred and divisions. This is a terrific piece of narrative nonfiction for tweens and teens.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
“I AM AN AMERICAN”
– Large sign posted outside a grocery store in Oakland, the day after Pearl Harbor. The store’s owner, a UC Berkeley graduate and an American of Japanese descent, was soon thereafter “detained,” and his store was shuttered. (A photo of the store and sign is one of many stunning images, captured by legendary photojournalist Dorothea Lange, that are included in this book.)
“I learned that Washington never told a lie,
I learned that soldiers seldom die,
I learned that everybody's free,
And that's what the teacher said to me,
And that's what I learned in school today,
That's what I learned in school.”
– Tom Paxton (1964)
“In actual fact, during the entire course of the war [WWII], there were only ten people in America convicted of spying for Japan. None of them were Japanese.
Remember, language is power. It is possible to take something awful, explain it away calmly, and give it a bland label to try to make it more easily digested or ignored by a general audience. It’s always important to question the meanings of things for yourself.
The WRA [U.S. War Relocation Authority] used similar tactics in documenting the forced removal and life in the ‘camps’ as they were called. It made short films showing serene detainees painting, exuberant young men playing baseball, laughing girls walking to their school where teachers taught a curriculum similar to what they would have had at home. The WRA also hired photographers, including famous photographer Dorothea Lange, to create well-curated images of cooperative, smiling people seeming to enjoy–or at least be making the most of–their current situation. Why? So the WRA could present a palatable view of the incarceration of innocent people to the world. Dorothea Lange did not capture the positive images the WRA was counting on, so they impounded the bulk of her photographs–including he negatives, prints, and undeveloped film.”
– from PEACE IS A CHAIN REACTION
“Right around New Year’s Day, 1945, the Japanese army released an unmanned balloon from the east coast of the main island of Honshu.
It was made of 600 pieces of paper glued together, in all likelihood, by schoolgirls. It measured 33 feet in diameter and when fully inflated held about 19,000 cubic feet of hydrogen. It carried several incendiary bombs.
The balloon rose into the currents of the jet stream and began its long path eastward. It was equipped with an ingenious equilibrium system that spit out hydrogen when it climbed too high and dropped sandbags when it dipped too low. The teardrop-shaped specter crossed 6,200 miles of the Pacific Ocean in two or three days, and finally fell apart on Jan. 4, 1945, landing in an orchard off Vine Hill Road, just east of Forestville.
‘It was 5 or 6, and Dad and I were going out to bring in the goat for the evening,’ said Terence Alberigi, who was 14 at the time and still lives in the area. ‘We heard a whistling sound, and we saw this thing fall from the sky. It hit an apple tree and broke a branch.’
Alberigi, now 91, estimates the contraption landed 150-200 feet from him and his father, Frank. ‘It fell behind a workman’s cabin,’ Terence said. ‘We weren’t that far from it.’
Frank Alberigi’s reaction? ‘What the hell is it?’ his son recalled.”
– Sonoma County Press Democrat (2022)
PEACE IS A CHAIN REACTION begins with a basic overview of the World War II nation combatants and alliances. Sibert medalist Tanya Lee Stone then delves into the infamous incarceration of more than 120,000 American citizens of Japanese descent in ten so-called “internment camps.”
Next, the book details the history of the Japanese balloon bombs. During WWII, school girls were tasked with fabricating these thirty-foot diameter paper balloons. The balloons were armed with incendiary bombs, filled with hydrogen, and released into the jetstream, which guided them across the Pacific Ocean toward the United States. Out of the hundreds of balloons that reached the U.S., one was responsible for fatalities. In May 1945, six people were killed in Bly, Oregon, while on a Saturday morning picnic. Those were the only deaths on the American continent as the result of enemy action during WWII.
These two historical topics are then connected, thanks to the efforts of the late Yuzuru John Takeshita, the American-born son of Japanese immigrants. Yuzuru spent half of his childhood living in Japan with his grandfather. Sent back to his home in Oregon as the war approached, he, his parents, and his seven American-born siblings were subsequently imprisoned during the war, first at the Topaz facility and then at Tule Lake.
Forty-two years later, Mr. Takeshita, by then a sociology professor, was responsible for bringing together some of the women who, as girls, were forced to help craft the balloons, with the families and friends of those six victims in Oregon. The Japanese women, who were heavy-hearted for having been part of the effort leading to the deaths of the six Americans, hand-folded one thousand paper cranes as a symbol of “one thousand wishes for peace.” The paper cranes, which Mr. Takeshita brought back from Japan, became a centerpiece of a ceremony held in Bly. Since that ceremony, a number of the now elderly women in Japan and the friends and families in Bly began communicating with and visiting each other, a practice which continued for years.
The well-researched and well-told PEACE IS A CHAIN REACTION is filled with fascinating historical detail, and topped off with the inspired actions of peacemakers to heal hatred and divisions. This is a terrific piece of narrative nonfiction for tweens and teens.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
January 16, 2023
Great introduction to narrative non-fiction for young adults. The remarkable story of a triangular reconciliation between a teenage boy wrongfully detained at the Tule Lake Japanese Interment Camp, several teenage girls conscripted by the Japanese military to build balloon bombs intended to travel across the Pacific Ocean to the United States, and the families of one child, four teenagers and a 25 year old woman killed by an unexploded Japanese Balloon Bomb on May 7, 1945. Tanya Lee Stone puts all the pieces of this inspiring story together beautifully, with just the right amount of background information for readers to grasp how unlikely this would be. But it did happen. And, it’s amazing.
December 22, 2022
Reviewed for slj
February 13, 2023
The strength of this book lies in the detailed accounts of some of the people directly involved in wartime tragedy. It brings together Japanese-Americans wrongly interred, Japanese school girls indoctrinated to eagerly sacrifice themselves in making weapons aimed at civilians, and the families of children killed by those weapons. Because all these events are causally connected to the larger story of world war 2, that history is briefly recounted as necessary.
The treatment of the primary story of forgiveness is flawless. The condensation of world history is not surprisingly subject to critique.
I would have wished that there was a line acknowledging that Britain and France declared war on Germany after the invasion of Poland because they had a treaty with Poland explicitly promising to defend them if they were invaded. I would have wished there was mention of how hard won was the U.S. Congress’s overturning of restrictions to allow the support of Great Britain and eventually the Soviet Union with the lend lease program. It is treated as if it were a preordained policy rather than an overturning of previous legislation.
This is a book about forgiveness between individual civilians and deserves great credit for appropriately complicating the story of wartime wrongs by including Pearl Harbor, internment, balloon bombs, Hiroshima and radioactive fallout, the rape of Nanking and the Batan death march. What is barely addressed, and seems glaring, is the Japanese form of government that inculcated the belief that the emperor was in actual fact a god and included profound elements of racial superiority. We go without comment from the wrong and awful compulsion of Japanese-American citizens to renounce loyalty to the Japanese emperor to descriptions of Japanese children unswervingly giving up their freedom, health and sometimes their lives to serve someone they believed was divine. That complicates loyalty and moves it beyond the question of simple citizenship.
One question that is consistently raised for me given the wrong-headedness of Japanese internment is why there was so little government response when there was abundant evidence of lots of fifth column German espionage during both world war 1 and world war 2 that resulted in thousands of American deaths within our borders and territorial waters,. This was not the book to address that issue, but it is a persistent question of mine that requires a bunch more reading. Were the Japanese punished because government officials were aware of foreign national infiltration and espionage among a population that was more integrated and far less easy to visually pick out? Was some of the targeting of Japanese an effort to head off a problem officials imagined might occur, precisely because they knew it had occurred with another nationality?
The treatment of the primary story of forgiveness is flawless. The condensation of world history is not surprisingly subject to critique.
I would have wished that there was a line acknowledging that Britain and France declared war on Germany after the invasion of Poland because they had a treaty with Poland explicitly promising to defend them if they were invaded. I would have wished there was mention of how hard won was the U.S. Congress’s overturning of restrictions to allow the support of Great Britain and eventually the Soviet Union with the lend lease program. It is treated as if it were a preordained policy rather than an overturning of previous legislation.
This is a book about forgiveness between individual civilians and deserves great credit for appropriately complicating the story of wartime wrongs by including Pearl Harbor, internment, balloon bombs, Hiroshima and radioactive fallout, the rape of Nanking and the Batan death march. What is barely addressed, and seems glaring, is the Japanese form of government that inculcated the belief that the emperor was in actual fact a god and included profound elements of racial superiority. We go without comment from the wrong and awful compulsion of Japanese-American citizens to renounce loyalty to the Japanese emperor to descriptions of Japanese children unswervingly giving up their freedom, health and sometimes their lives to serve someone they believed was divine. That complicates loyalty and moves it beyond the question of simple citizenship.
One question that is consistently raised for me given the wrong-headedness of Japanese internment is why there was so little government response when there was abundant evidence of lots of fifth column German espionage during both world war 1 and world war 2 that resulted in thousands of American deaths within our borders and territorial waters,. This was not the book to address that issue, but it is a persistent question of mine that requires a bunch more reading. Were the Japanese punished because government officials were aware of foreign national infiltration and espionage among a population that was more integrated and far less easy to visually pick out? Was some of the targeting of Japanese an effort to head off a problem officials imagined might occur, precisely because they knew it had occurred with another nationality?
April 23, 2025
During WWII the lives of 3 groups of teenagers were disrupted and forever changed by the world conflict. In Japan, a group of teenage schoolgirls were forced to make balloon bombs to strike terror in mainland US in retaliation for the Allies bombing Tokyo. In the US, one of those balloon bombs reached the mountains of Oregon and was stumbled upon by a group of teenagers out for a Sunday school picnic. When someone touched the bomb, 6 people died, and their siblings and friends were left reeling in the aftermath, and they were sworn to secrecy by the US government so they couldn’t tell anyone what happened for years. Not far away from this incident, a Japanese American teen was languishing in an internment camp because of fear of his ethnic background. Decades after the war, the Japanese American teen, now a sociology professor, met one of the former schoolgirls who made the balloon bombs. She wanted to send a message of apology and peace to the families of the teens who died as a result of the kinds of balloons she worked on. What resulted were a series of messages, and then meetings, and the establishment of a park in Oregon to promote healing, peace, and friendship.
I knew that the Japanese made balloon bombs during WWII and had heard that some managed to reach the US mainland, but I had never heard before that anyone died from these devices. I was also unaware of the grueling conditions teenagers who made the bombs in Japan were subjected to. I have read other books on Japanese internment camps, but hadn’t heard about the school run by Mrs Gunderson and her husband who quit their jobs and came to teach these kids as a way to protest the wrongs being done and help the teens imprisoned. The way she inspired her students, and sparked this one teen to grow up and make further changes in the future for good was inspiring. The way the messages and meetings between the Japanese girls and the American families brought so much healing was heartwarming to hear, and the way Japanese Americans were instrumental as go-betweens to enable these events was further inspiring.
Notes on content:
Language: None
Sexual content: None
Violence: Deaths in the war are mentioned. Mistreatment of Japanese Americans is mentioned. The horrid results of the bomb going off and killing 6 people is more implied than fully described, but you get the gist that it was an awful scene.
Ethnic diversity: Most characters are Japanese American, white American, and Japanese.
LGBTQ+ content: None specified
Other: Japanese girls in harsh and unhealthy (both mentally and physically) working conditions to make the paper balloons is described. Racism and prejudice are key topics. The psychological trauma of not being able to talk about a traumatic event is touched on.
I knew that the Japanese made balloon bombs during WWII and had heard that some managed to reach the US mainland, but I had never heard before that anyone died from these devices. I was also unaware of the grueling conditions teenagers who made the bombs in Japan were subjected to. I have read other books on Japanese internment camps, but hadn’t heard about the school run by Mrs Gunderson and her husband who quit their jobs and came to teach these kids as a way to protest the wrongs being done and help the teens imprisoned. The way she inspired her students, and sparked this one teen to grow up and make further changes in the future for good was inspiring. The way the messages and meetings between the Japanese girls and the American families brought so much healing was heartwarming to hear, and the way Japanese Americans were instrumental as go-betweens to enable these events was further inspiring.
Notes on content:
Language: None
Sexual content: None
Violence: Deaths in the war are mentioned. Mistreatment of Japanese Americans is mentioned. The horrid results of the bomb going off and killing 6 people is more implied than fully described, but you get the gist that it was an awful scene.
Ethnic diversity: Most characters are Japanese American, white American, and Japanese.
LGBTQ+ content: None specified
Other: Japanese girls in harsh and unhealthy (both mentally and physically) working conditions to make the paper balloons is described. Racism and prejudice are key topics. The psychological trauma of not being able to talk about a traumatic event is touched on.
January 22, 2023
This one is a 4.5 for me. Reading it left me just as inspired and in awe of the human capacity healing as Caren Stelson's Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor's Story, another book about WWII published in 2016. This narrative nonfiction title tells the story of Yuzuru John Takeshita, who was born and reared in San Mateo, California, but whose parents sent him back to Japan for school so that he could retain his Japanese language and heritage. Takeshita had returned to the United States the year before Pearl Harbor. The family was incarcerated at Tule Lake where he graduated from high school, still believing in the Constitution but disappointed in the country's leadership. He went on to a successful career in academia, but through a series of events, he learned about the balloon bombs sent to the continental United States during WWII as part of the Japanese military's effort to bring the war home to U.S. citizens and do as much damage as possible. As it turned out, these balloons, 9,000 of which were launched as part of the war effort, required layers of washi (special paper) that were fashioned by Japanese school girls. It was one of these balloon bombs that exploded in Bly, Oregon, killing six individuals, five of them children. Takeshita reached out to both sides--some of the girls, now adults--who had helped make those balloons, and now felt guilty for their part in the tragedy--and the survivors' families and brought them together. As the book's author notes, war is complex, and "Wrongs will continue to happen. Tragedies will occur. Be kind. Right wrongs when you are able. Reach out to those who suffer. Build community. Foster forgiveness. Make neighbors of those who you do not yet know" (p. 135). This impactful story reminds readers that peace can be a chain reaction, just as war or violence can, and that small acts of kindness can make all the difference in the world, offering a path to healing. With archival photographs and detailed descriptions of life in the Japanese internment camps as well as the factories where the balloon bombs were produced, this book is a must-read for students of history and those in search of heroes or ways to make a difference. Some readers may be annoyed by the occasional asides or commentary offered by Stone, but they added another layer to this well-researched story for me.
February 6, 2023
First sentence: From a very young age, we can be taught to hate or fear people who are different from us. Sometimes this racism is buried so deep, it can be hard to see. Sometimes it is clearly visible. War is one of the more obvious ways in which entire nations can be taught to hate--and fear--people of other nations.
Premise/plot: Some books are hard to summarize, Peace Is A Chain Reaction is one of them. It tells primarily of three stories during the second world war: the internment camps of Japanese-Americans, specifically focusing in on one family; a group of young teenage girls [Japanese] whose school closed down to become a factory--a factory where balloon bombs were made; and an American community shaken by the death of six children [or perhaps five children and an adult] due to the resulting explosion of a balloon bomb. Yuzuru John Takeshita, who spent time in several internment/prison camps, brought these two communities together. The book provides context for the second world war and brings to light these events for young readers.
My thoughts: I thought I was relatively well informed on the subject of world war II. I had never heard of the Japanese inventing/using/implementing balloon bombs. I had never heard of balloon bombs successfully reaching the United States and detonating. This was hushed up during the war for various reasons. I'd also never heard or thought about young Japanese women [teenagers] doing factory work, war factory work. So while I'd heard plenty about Japanese-American internment/imprisonment camps, so much of this was new to me. For that reason alone it was a worthwhile read for me.
I liked how these stories were woven together to tell a cohesive story.
Premise/plot: Some books are hard to summarize, Peace Is A Chain Reaction is one of them. It tells primarily of three stories during the second world war: the internment camps of Japanese-Americans, specifically focusing in on one family; a group of young teenage girls [Japanese] whose school closed down to become a factory--a factory where balloon bombs were made; and an American community shaken by the death of six children [or perhaps five children and an adult] due to the resulting explosion of a balloon bomb. Yuzuru John Takeshita, who spent time in several internment/prison camps, brought these two communities together. The book provides context for the second world war and brings to light these events for young readers.
My thoughts: I thought I was relatively well informed on the subject of world war II. I had never heard of the Japanese inventing/using/implementing balloon bombs. I had never heard of balloon bombs successfully reaching the United States and detonating. This was hushed up during the war for various reasons. I'd also never heard or thought about young Japanese women [teenagers] doing factory work, war factory work. So while I'd heard plenty about Japanese-American internment/imprisonment camps, so much of this was new to me. For that reason alone it was a worthwhile read for me.
I liked how these stories were woven together to tell a cohesive story.
April 17, 2023
I am now a much older women who is still learning about American history and the truth that was perverted or suppressed so that people could be imprisoned, divested of their property and businesses with their only crime being another race and speaking their native language as well as English.
This is an brief overview of the background that resulted in "relocating" many Japanese WITH AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP to remote, desert locations. These people coped with all this in amazing ways. I have read several books on this time period, but this reflects another look at what was happening in Japan and the influence of loving leaders and teachers who continued to love democracy and teach the children that things are wrong, but democracy will restore itself.
These faithful Christians formed another side to the story with many twists and turns.
John Takeshita was a child when all this took place, but his faith guided him to make several decisions that changed his life and formed the base of his actions to deliver forgiveness to and from both sides, which became his life work.
The other viewpoint of this story is from the Japanese side which involved their young girls in making parachutes that would enable explosive loads to be dropped on American soil. They wanted to have the US feel that they too were not safe from bombing.
I am not going to ruin the story, but there are so many twists and turns that you need to read it to see the way fate intervened. You just can hardly believe it.
This is an brief overview of the background that resulted in "relocating" many Japanese WITH AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP to remote, desert locations. These people coped with all this in amazing ways. I have read several books on this time period, but this reflects another look at what was happening in Japan and the influence of loving leaders and teachers who continued to love democracy and teach the children that things are wrong, but democracy will restore itself.
These faithful Christians formed another side to the story with many twists and turns.
John Takeshita was a child when all this took place, but his faith guided him to make several decisions that changed his life and formed the base of his actions to deliver forgiveness to and from both sides, which became his life work.
The other viewpoint of this story is from the Japanese side which involved their young girls in making parachutes that would enable explosive loads to be dropped on American soil. They wanted to have the US feel that they too were not safe from bombing.
I am not going to ruin the story, but there are so many twists and turns that you need to read it to see the way fate intervened. You just can hardly believe it.
December 30, 2025
Tanya Lee Stone’s tapestries of storytelling, where she sheds light on little-known histories, always read like riveting fiction- even though they are true! Having heard her speak about her research and the things she uncovers (as she lives in my community!), her writing speaks with the same excitement, bringing you along on the journey of discovery. The Japanese balloon bombs is a riveting enough episode, but Stone finds the deeper stories within, all resonating the message that in war we all are victims and we all victimize others, either directly or indirectly. We all also have the capacity to repair, to try to heal injustice, and promote peace.
Of note:
“The terms internment, relocation, and evacuation are often used to refer to this historical event, but internment means ‘the legally permissible detention of enemy aliens in time of war’ and evacuation implies that action was taken for the safety of the people affected. Throughout this book, unless in quotation marks or as a proper noun, I’ve chosen to follow the terminology supported by the Densho organization— a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and sharing this history to promote equity and justice— and use the more accurate terms incarceration or detainment instead of internment, and forced removal instead of relocation or evacuation” (18).
“In war we are all—victors and vanquished, young and old, men and women alike— both victims and directly or indirectly perpetrators upon others of pain and hardship” (121).
Of note:
“The terms internment, relocation, and evacuation are often used to refer to this historical event, but internment means ‘the legally permissible detention of enemy aliens in time of war’ and evacuation implies that action was taken for the safety of the people affected. Throughout this book, unless in quotation marks or as a proper noun, I’ve chosen to follow the terminology supported by the Densho organization— a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and sharing this history to promote equity and justice— and use the more accurate terms incarceration or detainment instead of internment, and forced removal instead of relocation or evacuation” (18).
“In war we are all—victors and vanquished, young and old, men and women alike— both victims and directly or indirectly perpetrators upon others of pain and hardship” (121).
August 10, 2023
I learned so much from this fascinating book. Stone skillfully weaves together multiple stories and makes them relevant and engaging for teen readers. As with all of Stone’s books, it’s impeccably researched and provides extensive bibliography and source notes. I especially appreciate when Stone directly addresses readers and asks them to think critically about the content they’re reading.
In the section, “Truth and Transparency,” Stone addresses how complicated it is to accurately tell a historical story. She ends with this: “So, now you know what I know. Ultimately, it’s my job to do the best I can to get it right. And it’s your job to question authority, challenge meaning, and decide some things for yourself.”
Indeed.
#KidsLoveNonfiction #nonfiction
In the section, “Truth and Transparency,” Stone addresses how complicated it is to accurately tell a historical story. She ends with this: “So, now you know what I know. Ultimately, it’s my job to do the best I can to get it right. And it’s your job to question authority, challenge meaning, and decide some things for yourself.”
Indeed.
#KidsLoveNonfiction #nonfiction
November 3, 2022
Really incredible story about Japanese balloon bombs, American detainment camps for Japanese Americans during WWII, tragedy and patriotism, peace and war. I knew nothing of balloon bombs, which is like many people. That alone would be really interesting. But Stone follows the story of one incredible teen in a detainment camp who grew up to be a man who connected people in Japan and the US impacted by WWII and shared peace. It's intricate and confusing at times, but very uplifting amid all the wartime tragedy and mistreatment.
December 3, 2022
Wow. Super interesting history that I didn’t know about how Japanese scientists figured out how to send massive balloon bombs on the jet stream toward the U.S. during WWII. The book also goes into one Japanese-American family’s incarceration at Tule Lake, California, and the tale of how the only casualties of WWII on the U.S. mainland came to be. The last third of the book recounts how all of these events brought people together 40 years later in the name of peace. Now I want to read the author’s other narrative nonfiction books. She does not shy away from the hard history.
April 1, 2023
Stone's ability to craft a cohesive, compellling narrative from a story with a large cast of characters, multiple settings, and multiple shifts in time is notable. At times it seems as if the narrative drifts to far off center like, for example, with so much discussion of Executive Order 9066 and Japanese American detainment camps. It is also quite a stretch to suggest a bomb going off in Hanford, Washington could have triggered a nuclear explosion.
August 8, 2023
3.5 I think! The history of the balloon bombs was something I'd never heard of before and it was totally interesting, and every time I read about the detention camps it is a tragedy. Although I find the weaving of the stories a good attempt, the whole thing either felt too short of not fleshed out enough? I don't know that I can hook readers with the peace side of it, unfortunately, I think they'll read this for a look at the balloon bombs.
October 18, 2022
Fantastic narrative about little known events during WWII. I loved the very readable text alongside the images and graphics. Stone's narrative highlights compelling human experiences in the U.S. and Japan.
March 23, 2023
This book was exceptionally "okay." It was wide reaching, but lacking in much depth. It's an all right introduction to the era, but the amount of detail on the balloons or what came next is extremely sparse as so much of the page count is given to a brief history of the US internment camps.
May 31, 2023
Rating: g+ wwii related tension / violence
Recommend jh and up
Interesting juxtaposition. Between Japanese internment and war balloons and finally some peace between victims and former enemies.
Good to purchase : fils a little gap.
Recommend jh and up
Interesting juxtaposition. Between Japanese internment and war balloons and finally some peace between victims and former enemies.
Good to purchase : fils a little gap.
January 15, 2023
An artful telling of WWII stories that aren’t focused on in history classes, and an example of how healing is possible.
March 17, 2023
This was such an interesting book and really well done for young adults to comprehend all that was happening and the repercussions of things done at that time.
May 8, 2023
slow to read.
photographs are great.
narrative non-fiction.
photographs are great.
narrative non-fiction.
May 10, 2023
The most beautiful narrative non-fiction .
July 5, 2023
An extraordinary story that brings a new perspective to the human toll of war and the capacity for healing. [Kirkus Reviews]
August 29, 2023
Very well researched book and very well written.
Bought for our school library.
Bought for our school library.
December 29, 2023
Nurturing hope and forgiveness in a world broken by war. Learning about these balloons was an eye-opener.
August 9, 2024
Inspiration read because it reminds one that a single person can begin something, for good or bad. 1st hand info about Japanese internment camps in WW2.
Read
July 27, 2023As one would expect of anything the author publishes, this was cogent, informative, well-balanced and utterly fascinating. The plentiful back matter attests to the meticulous research. Amazing stories.
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