The Fences Between Us: The Diary of Piper Davis, Seattle, Washington, 1941

Dear America

by Kirby Larson

Newbery Honor author Kirby Larson brings us the first new Dear America diary in years, taking readers through the attack on Pearl Harbor, the start of World War II, and the Japanese incarceration.

With this sweeping tale of life on the World War II home front, Kirby Larson brings her incredible talent to the Dear America series. When Pearl Harbor is attacked, America is finally unable to ignore the wars raging in Europe and Asia any longer. And one girl's entire life is about to change when everything she knows is turned on its head. After the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor, where her brother, a navy sailor, is stationed, Piper Davis begins chronicling her compelling journey through one of history's most tragic and unforgettable eras.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Fiction, Historical, Childrens, Young Adult, World War II

313 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Kirby Larson went from history-phobe to history fanatic while writing the 2007 Newbery Honor Book, HATTIE BIG SKY. Her passion for historical fiction is reflected in titles such as THE FENCES BETWEEN US, THE FRIENDSHIP DOLL, as well as the sequel to HATTIE BIG SKY, HATTIE EVER AFTER, and her two latest titles, DUKE--which was nominated for 5 state Young Reader Choice awards as well as being a finalist for the Washington State Book Award-- and DASH--which has garnered two starred reviews, a NAPPA Gold Award and a Capitol Choices nomination. She will have two new books out in 2016 -- watch for them!

In 2006, Kirby began a collaboration with her good friend Mary Nethery resulting in two award-winning nonfiction picture books: TWO BOBBIES: A TRUE STORY OF HURRICANE KATRINA, FRIENDSHIP AND SURVIVAL, and NUBS: THE TRUE STORY OF A MUTT, A MARINE AND A MIRACLE.

Kirby lives in Kenmore, Washington with her husband, Neil, and Winston the Wonder Dog. When she’s not reading or writing Kirby enjoys beach combing, bird watching, and traveling. She owns a tiara and is not afraid to use it.

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book represents so much of what I hate about racial representation in American pop culture. Fences is about a young white girl whose father ministers at a Japanese Baptist church during World War II. When the Japanese are interned after Pearl Harbor, he moves with his daughter to Idaho to continue to minister to his flock in the camp. Piper Davis is his daughter and the book is her diary.

My problem is that, while the preacher is based on a real person. Piper is not. This story simply did not happen. It is yet another attempt to insert a white person and a white perspective on what is essentially a non-white story.

Stories like this simply "white wash" American history. We have countless stories of white people's imagined stories during the Civil Rights movement, the extermination of Native Americans, and now, with this story, it's Asian Americans' turn.

As a minority, I find these stories offensive as they attempt to erase our own presence from our own stories. As a writer, I don't get it because it's purposely ignoring the real drama in these historical events.

Isn't it more compelling to hear from the actual victims of oppression? What it was like to be Japanese-American, viewing yourself as an American, and then suddenly having your family uprooted and jailed and then having the government that jailed you ask you to fight for them in their war. What was that fear, anger, resentment, and counter-intuitive display of patriotism like? That's what I want to know.

Instead, we get to see what it's like to be a privileged witness to the horror that the Japanese-Americans experienced. Oh yeah, that's really rough.

Also, since this is part of the "Dear America" series, which offers fictional portrayals of what it was like being a teenage girl during different eras in different regions of America--this Anglo angle on Japanese-American internment is even more insulting. Just like the American government during the War, this series, in giving the internment story to a white girl instead of an Asian one, implies that to be of Asian descent in America makes you somehow NOT American.

[Genevieve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a lot of Dear America books during my childhood, so I was excited to learn that they were being brought back in print, and even more excited when the first new volume turned out to be about the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. So when my bookstore got an ARC of this, I snagged it. And it's pretty good: It does the trick that made the Dear America series so absorbing when I was ten, of inserting the reader into the time of its setting and making one feel the past living and breathing. On the other hand, though: did this story have to be from the perspective of a white girl?

I can see the arguments for choosing to tell this particular story: it's a different perspective (we already have Farewell to Manzanar, right?), and viewing the internment through the eyes of an outsider brings home the role of other Americans in letting the internment happen, the danger of group-think, etc. But given that this is likely to be the only volume in the series with this setting, and that there really aren't many books for children--or for anyone--about this topic, I can't help but wish that the choice had been made to give a Japanese American girl a voice.

Edit, years later: I haven't reread this book, but I should note that over time I've grown much angrier about the whole business. I think back on my childhood (as the granddaughter of Japanese Americans who were interned), how few representations of any Asian Americans (much less Japanese Americans) I encountered in books and how those few (such as Allen Say's picture books) mattered, and I think about the scars internment left on my family, and I find the underlying logic of this decision - that to make the internment relevant or interesting to the rest of America we have to tell its story through a white character; that doing so is more important than considering the perspectives of the people this actually happened to - deeply troubling.

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives a rare look into the Japanese American perspective during World War Two, told through the lens of a fictional American girl whose father ministers to Japanese Americans as a pastor in concentration camps. Has pretty strong themes of faith and family.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was alright. Though to be honest I'd have rather it been from the point of view of her Japanese friend who actually has to live in the camps that they mention. I think it would have made the book much stronger and interesting then it is.

It also made me a little uncomfortable because it seems a little 'white washing' history-ish. I know that's not a real word, but go with me on this. You have a series that takes moments of history and while sure this would be an interesting take, it seems like something you might write *after* you've written from the p.o.v of someone of Japanese descent.

There's a Dear Canada book called "Torn Apart: The Internment Diary of Mary Kobayashi" which I enjoyed much more then this one. And I recommend to anyone frustrated with this books for the same reasons I was.

[Margo Tanenbaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Award-winning author Kirby Larson, author of many outstanding titles including the Newbery winner Hattie Big Sky, offers us the first title in a relaunch of Scholastic's popular Dear America series. The Fences Between Us is the diary of Piper Davis, the appealing 13-year old daughter of a pastor at a Japanese Baptist church in 1941 Seattle. When her 18-year old big brother Hank and his two best buddies (known among themselves as the Three Musketeers) enlist in the Navy, they're sent to Pearl Harbor, where the family thinks they will be far away from any action. In the meantime, Piper and her best friend Trixie share typical girl worries--does Bud with the gorgeous green eyes who's in their class really like Piper? The reader knows, though, that trouble is coming, and we live with Piper through the shock of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the terror of not knowing if her brother is alive or dead.

Soon Japanese-Americans she has known her whole life are arrested by the FBI, and sent to prison, without proper charges. Her life at home is changing too, as her older sister gets married to her sweetheart, who soon ships off to England, and then begins working at Boeing as one of the Rosie Riveters. And although she's not really supposed to date, Piper's secretly going steady with Bud, who's given her his pin, and she's exploring her love for photography as she studies Margaret Bourke-White for a school report. But things are about to become much worse for her father's congregants. Piper watches as the Japanese from Bainbridge Island are the first to go, sent to Camp Harmony, a place where there is nothing harmonic at all. A former fairgrounds, Japanese-American families sleep in converted horse stalls. Within weeks all their Seattle Japanese-American friends are also deported to Camp Harmony, and after that to a permanent war relocation camp in Idaho. Piper is surprised that at her school, her classmates carry on as if everything is normal, "as if a quarter of our student population wasn't missing...I know this relocation plan is...meant to help us feel safe. But when I look around, I don't feel safe; I feel sad," she writes in her diary.

When Piper's Pop decides to join his flock at the Minidoka relocation camp, Piper is distraught and furious with him, but has no choice but to accompany him. The second half of the book takes place at the camp near Eden, Idaho. The camp itself "is worse than I ever imagined." And Piper and her father are not popular in town--restaurants refuse to serve them and landlords won't rent to them because they're "Jap-lovers." Piper decides to attend school in the camp with the Japanese kids instead of in town, even though they have no chalkboards, desks, or even books. The camp residents try to make life as "normal" as possible, but it takes months to even get necessities such as coal stoves or regular toilets for the residents.

Larson provides plenty of details about life on the home front, from civil defense drills, Victory gardens, and the agonizing waits to hear from relatives on the front lines, as well as many details about life in the internment camp that Kirby garnered from personal interviews with camp residents as well as many other sources. Through all the hardships, Piper learns that "even if we can't do much about the fences that get built around people, when fences get built between people, it's our job to tear them down."

Remarkably, we learn in an afterword that this story is based on the real-life story of Pastor Andy Andrews, who moved from Seattle to Twin Falls, Idaho, to be near his congregation, all of whom had been sent to Minidoka. This choice was very hard on his family, and author Larson writes "He did what he believed was right, no matter what." We can all be glad that Larson has chosen to share a story based on such a quietly heroic figure.

This is a terrific addition to a well-loved series, perfect for those readers who have outgrown American Girl and Magic Treehouse but enjoy history-related titles. As is typical in this series, there is an afterword with additional information and photographs of life in American during this period (1941), as well as links to helpful websites on Camp Harmony, Minidoka, and oral histories of those incarcerated at these camps. Also, check out Scholastic's new Dear America site for news of other releases in this series and to experience Piper's scrapbook and other activities. There is also a companion site for teachers.

[Laurie]

I was so pleased to see a Dear America book that said, "Seattle, Washington" on the front. And, reading carefully, I noticed that the heroine attends Washington Junior High (the predecessor, in a different building, to my own Washington Middle School).

While I was startled that the "diary" about Japanese-American internment would be about a white girl, the story that Larson chose to tell is based on a real family--that of Pastor Emery Andrews, the white pastor of the Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle--and it presents an interesting perspective on the internment. I especially appreciated that it depicts a close relationship between white and Japanese people, and that this relationship continued even after Piper's brother is nearly killed at Pearl Harbor.

And of course I just love books set in the 1940s. I think this will be my Christmas gift for Mom.

[Tara Chevrestt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't expecting much from this to be perfectly honest. My mother found an arc and passed it on to me and upon first glance, I thought it too childish for me. I needed a quick, uncomplicated read just until I could pick up my library books but ended up reading it all day and the library books just sat there.

Nevertheless, I obviously loved it.. read the full review here:

http://wwwbookbabe.blogspot.com/2010/...

[Young Adult Historical Vault · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, did I ever dislike this book. I'm extremely frustrated that Dear America chose to cover the topic of Japanese internment with a white narrator. While I understand the drive to go over how white Americans were complicit in internment, I'm astonished that the powers that be felt that the story of internment would be better told by a white observer. White-washing aside, it simply cannot be as powerful. There's very little interest in a story about a white girl who is just observing her friends and neighbours in the camps, when her biggest problem is that a neighbour is mean to her. It rings of insincerity and while the goal may be to see how much Piper has learned, there's no sense of development there at all. The Piper at the end is exactly the same Piper at the beginning. This entry turned me off the entire relaunched Dear America series, and in my books is just as black a mark as My Heart Is On The Ground.

For more details and further discussion, check out Young Adult Historical Vault https://yahistoricalvault.com/2016/03...

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Lover of books · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is always good to remember what we have done in the past to hope we will not repeat them.

[TheRoer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have this audiobook! I think it was pretty good. There were two things I didn’t like…how she liked this one guy and then when she had to move with her pastor father to a Japanese camp (she’s not Japanese) then he just…well…he’s not my favorite guy. Then this other guy whom she only liked as a brother (he was Japanese) liked her a lot and then he went off to fight and got killed. That kinda made me mad! But overall I suppose it’s a good story. I’m afraid I just like happy endings. Who doesn’t?

[Kelsey Hanson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I'm a bit frustrated with this one. This book follows the story of the Japanese internment camps in America following the attack on Pearl Harbor. However, it is told from the perspective of a white girl. This seems like really odd choice especially for the Dear America series which has featured a variety of different girls and races. I admit that the main character's father was inspired by an actual preacher, but the thought of a young white girl spending any real amount of time in an internment camp seems really unlikely. If this story had taken the approach of a fictional sort of Farewell to Manzanar it would probably be stronger.

[M.K. Laffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently heard about the Japanese incarceration camps in America and instantly wanted more. Before I learned about this period, I purchased this book because I enjoyed Larson’s novel “Hattie Big Sky”. I found this book very informative and am very glad a read it. It was perfectly clean from a Christian perspective.
Although I found the perspective a little elementary, this is an elementary-grade book. Piper’s writing gave me this impression, but I quickly remembered how I journal (ed) and give much credit to Larson for how realistic I found her main characters. Besides that, the book may have profited from a Japanese perspective, but I still thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was interested in learning about the Japanese internment camp by Twin Falls, Idaho. Plus I received this book for free from Scholastic Book Club.

[Pumkin pie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really interesting! I loved hearing Piper Davis's story. I enjoyed hearing her feelings and thoughts. This book is set in WWII, right after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. All of the Japanese and people of Japanese-decent, were sent to camos in fear of them stealing information from the US. Piper goes with her father (unwillingly) to be near the Japanese camps. Along the way, Piper makes new friends, has crushes, and learns a thing or two about family. I reccomend this book to people who enjoy history and family.

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Use your heart as the true viewfinder."

Another era of American history that people either like to forget happened or don't know anything about. Best POTUS award does NOT go to FDR. Sad to think we treated our own citizens like this, but then again, is it so surprising when we as a country still treat certain segments of the population with disdain for a variety of reasons.

[Lee]

The fact that this is based on a real person makes it even better. A good introduction to the topic, and 100% worth the read.

[Blessing · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book because it's historical fiction, also I learned more about World war ll and how badly the Japanese were treated.

[Tegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, and I couldn't put it down. I felt like I understood how Piper was feeling throughout the book. All of the losses she has to face, including losing several people she loved. I've read some of these books before, but none of them have been as good as this one. If I could I would give this book 1,000,000 stars.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

THE FENCES BETWEEN US by Kirby Larson is a new book in the DEAR AMERICA series. Having already read Larson's HATTIE BIG SKY, I knew she would handle the historical subject matter in a way that would make the reader feel part of the past. I wasn't disappointed.

Piper Davis lives in Seattle, Washington. It is 1941, and her older brother has just enlisted in the Navy. The worst thing she can imagine happens when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. Her brother was one of the few lucky survivors from the USS Arizona. In fact, his heroic actions also saved a friend and fellow crew member.

With her brother still on active duty but safe, Piper focuses on how her life at home is changing because of the war. Her older sister had been enrolled at the university, but she drops out to go to work in a factory to support the troops. Residents of Seattle feel the effects of the war as they prepare for "black outs" in case of enemy attacks, plant victory gardens in their backyards, and "do without" as rationing begins.

Piper's father is dealing with another change brought on by the war. He is the pastor of the Japanese Baptist church. Fear and prejudice quickly spread, creating hard feelings and hate. When the government decides that moving the Japanese to incarceration camps is the way to handle the situation, Pastor Davis fights to keep his congregation together. When he realizes the fight is over and his church members must be relocated, he decides to take Piper and follow them.

Piper hates leaving her sister, her friends, and her school, but what choice does she have? She and her father move into a rented house near the internment camp. The Japanese children she has grown up with are forced to live with their families in horrible conditions, but as Piper visits them and eventually begins to attend school at the camp, she is amazed at the resilient attitude of these proud people. They are determined to survive and even thrive despite the fact that the country they call home has turned its back on them.

Kirby Larson describes the living conditions and treatment of the Japanese in vivid detail. Using the experiences of an actual Baptist pastor who continued to serve his loyal church members, she keeps true to the historical facts surrounding the incarceration of tens of thousands of Japanese held near Eden and Twin Falls, Idaho. She explains that as the war raged on in Europe and the Pacific, another battle was waged right here on American soil.

[Mary Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scholastic has relaunched its Dear America series of historical fiction written in a diary format, and this is the first new title published since 2004. Larson, winner of the Newbery Honor for Hattie Big Sky (Delacorte, 2006), creates a compelling story that documents life in World War II, first in Seattle and then at the Minidoka Relocation Center, where Japanese Americans were incarcerated for over two years. Thirteen-year-old Piper Davis begins her diary in November 1941, just as her older brother Hank is leaving to serve in the US Navy in the Pacific. She shares her concern about her brother’s safety, especially after Pearl Harbor is bombed. But Piper’s world is also consumed by first crushes, first kisses and “getting pinned”, and Larson conveys the setting of the early 1940s with humor. Soon, however, Piper’s world changes dramatically and she wrestles with her reactions as many of her schoolmates start to act cruelly towards Japanese Americans, many of whom are Piper’s friends. Piper’s father, a pastor for a Japanese Baptist church, decides to follow his congregants to central Idaho when they are sent to an incarceration camp in Minidoka, where about 10,000 Japanese Americans were held. Life in Minidoka is very hard, and Piper is aware that it is even harder for the Japanese held there against their will. Larson creates a realist portrait of a thoughtful young girl, and Piper’s voice is strong throughout. The secondary characters are not developed fully, but that can be expected in a diary format. Larson provides interesting historical context for young readers to understand the many of the cultural and social pressures during this time, while still keeping it appropriate for middle grade readers. Particularly thought-provoking is the author’s note at the very end, where Larson explains that although she grew up in the Seattle area, it wasn’t until she reached college in the 1970s that she learned about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. This fictional diary is based on the real experiences of Pastor Emery “Andy” Andrews who followed his Japanese congregation to Minidoka. Four websites are provided for young readers to explore to learn more about the incarceration of Japanese Americans, but no other suggested reading is included. Scholastic Audio has also produced an audiobook available electronically or on a Playaway. Scholastic also has created websites for students and teachers to explore the Dear America series.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

From December 2010 SLJ:
Gr 5–8—In 1941 Seattle, Piper Davis is a typical 13-year-old in many ways: she enjoys spending time with her friends, listening to big-band music, and walking home from school with the boy she's sweet on. Since her mother died when she was a baby, her father, pastor at the Japanese Baptist Church, has raised Piper and her older sister and brother. She has never found straddling the two distinct communities unusual; however, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, her world is turned upside down. Suddenly, families from her father's church are being singled out: the FBI has no qualms about arresting American-born Japanese, and "No Japs" signs appear in downtown shop windows. Most of her school friends believe that the Japanese students should be expelled and can't understand why Piper defends them, especially since her brother, Hank, was at Pearl Harbor. When her father announces that he and Piper will follow their congregation to the Minidoka War Relocation Camp in Idaho, she is furious that she is being uprooted from her friends and her home. Over the following months, though, she develops an appreciation for her father's courage, and her previous acquaintance with Betty Sato deepens into a close friendship. While Cynthia Kadohata's Weedflower (S & S, 2006) explores this infamous period in American history through the eyes of a Japanese-American girl, Piper's convincing narration allows readers to appreciate the dilemma that occurs when individual rights seem to clash with national security. The thought-provoking themes are supplemented by a comprehensive historical note, photographs, and resources, and an abundance of online activities on the publisher's site.—Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This children's historical fiction is one of the many books in the Dear America series. The Fences Between Us is about how the 13 year old Piper Davis and her family (college attending, "Rosie the Riveter"-like sister, Margie; Navy enlisting, Pearl Harbor survivor brother, Hank; and pastor to a Japanese Baptist church father, Pastor Davis) deal with the war and having their whole church congregation relocated to camps due to their Japanese ancestry. The story begins with Piper getting a diary about a month before the attack on Pearl Harbor and continues until May 1, 1943.

Author Kirby Larson does a good job including many of the details of daily life in the 1940s as well as delicately broaching some more sensitive topics like the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the racist and ignorant mob mentality of people looking for a scapegoat. If read in a classroom, it could lead to many interesting discussions about how even know we still hear news about race related hatred and crimes.

I think that my students would enjoy this book and I hope if they do read it that they read the historical note at the end. That section really drives home the discomfort and horror of the camps. I do wish there was more information about what happened to the incarcerees when they were released - businesses gone, homes gone, I remember something about a lawsuit?

The internment of Japanese Americans during WWII seems to be a part of history that is glossed over and of which few young students are aware. I do have in my library The Journal of Ben Uchida: Citizen 13559, Mirror Lake Internment Camp by Barry Denenberg which is a part of the My Name is America series. I think these two books together will give a clear picture to students.

[Kat Saunders · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I very much understand the negative reviews about how this book centers the narrative around a white American's perspective of internment camps during World War II. On the flip side, I kind of fault the publisher more for the point of view than the (white) author who perhaps felt uncomfortable writing from the perspective of a marginalized person, especially because there are many surviving incarcerees and because other books in the series where a white author wrote a nonwhite narrator, the results have not been great.

All of this is to say, I'm not rating this book based on what I wish it had been instead of what it is. This is the first diary in the rebooted series. It's also one of the longest books in the series, which results in getting more character development than we often do in this series. Instead of Piper having one "token" Japanese friend, she has surprisingly (for this series) deep relationships with quite a few of the Japanese characters. It was interesting to learn a LOT more about the history of the internment camps--I don't know how much things have changed, but the courses I took in school were definitely light on details.

While the epilogue was kind of weirdly brief (no mention of Margie and Stan?) and sad (RIP Jim), the historical note was one of the best ones in the whole series for all its detailed information. So as much as this book makes the main character (and her dad, by extension) too white savior-ish, there are a lot of positive qualities. I got major fatigue from all the westward expansion diaries, so a more unique plot/time period/depth of peripheral characters was a nice treat.

oddly specific rating: 3.75/5

[Dori Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author of the 2007 Newbery Honor Book Hattie Big Sky, Kirby Larson has a wonderful knack for making history come alive. This book, the first new Dear America title in five years, comes in the form of the diary of a fictional seventh-grader named Piper Davis, who lived in Seattle in 1941.

Piper seems very real, with a best friend and a boy she likes, though she worries about her big brother, who enlisted in the Navy just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Suddenly the Japanese American kids at her school, and their families, are forced to leave their homes and move to camps. When her father, who is pastor for a Japanese Baptist Church, tells her they are moving to Idaho to be near his congregation, she hates him. How could he destroy her life? Yet she grows to understand just whose lives are being destroyed.

The tone and language of this book are spot on, for America of the 1940s, and helped me to feel the tension and worry of those war years. Reading it, I also got to know Betty Sato and her brothers, Jim and Mikey and Tommy, and many others in the camps. Larson paints the Japanese American incarceration in vivid, unforgettable colors, yet she keeps the book upbeat and not preachy.

This is a topic close to my heart because a good friend of mine, an American citizen, was incarcerated by the U.S. government at the age of 17. It's a tough subject to deal with, and Kirby does it beautifully. She deals with tender and painful subjects in a sensitive and thoughtful way. I hope lots of American kids read this book and never forget.

[Nielson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A part of the Dear America series, this particular book focuses on the life of Piper Davis at the brink of WW II. Piper lives in Seattle where, after America was bombed at Pearl Harbor, her Japanese neighbors were forcibly incarcerated in war relocation camps. Although not Japanese herself, Piper's father is the pastor of the Japanese Baptist church and decides to follow his congregation to their war relocation camp in Idaho. These books are a wonderful way for students to learn more about these specific times in American history. The writers' stories make past events come alive for the readers and help instill a greater appreciation for our predecessors. Also included at the back of each book is a historical note about the time period as well as reproductions of important documents and paintings during that era. The only downside to these books are the new covers they are coming out with. The new covers take away from the diary feel and look too modern...hate the new look but love the stories within.

I loved that this was based on an actual person. I think it this was such a shameful part of our history but it was so interesting to read about because I never really knew anything about it.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up with the Dear America books. They went out of print a few years ago, and it's been hard to get the few titles I didn't already own. Scholastic has done me a favor, and brought the series back! They've already reprinted a handful of titles, and plan to do more. They also are brining in new stories. One story I haven't read before is The Diary of Piper Davis: The Fences Between Us. Seattle, Washington 1941.

Piper's story is one I strongly relate to. It's based on the story of Reverend Emery Andrews, who moved whis family to Idaho, when his Japanese Baptist Church congregation was moved to an internment camp in Minidoka, Idaho. Kirby Larson gives us a teenage girl's reaction to the move, and how her friends respond to her family supporting the Japanese community following Pearl Harbor.

There are some parallels today to how people related to the Arab community in the US following 9/11. Piper upsets her friends by supporting her Japanese churchmates, and yet remains silent when she watches her Japanese friends get harassed at school.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the book growing up, or anyone looking for a gift for a child starting chapter books.

[Susanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect from Scholastic's first addition to the Dear America series in years, but Larson didn't let me down. Coming back to my favorite elementary school series as a high schooler, I still found The Fences Between Us to be interesting and a good read. Larson managed to incorporate great historical information into the story quite smoothly, and she offered a unique perspective on WWII. Piper Davis, the "author" of the diary, faces a rare dilemma during the early days of America's involvement in the war: her older brother is at Pearl Harbor, while her family lives in a Japanese neighborhood (her father's a Baptist minister) and eventually follows the Japanese to the internment camps. Piper is in the interesting situtation of having half of her friends support the incarceration of the Japanese while the other half are being forcibly "relocated"; Piper isn't always sure which side is right, but she discovers by the end! All in all, an educational and entertaining read.
Review originally posted on LibraryThing for the Early Reviewers.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprise! I wasn't picked for the original GoodReads giveaway, but I still received a copy in the mail! I'm so thrilled to read this and to use it in my classroom!

What an amazing story. Well-researched doesn't even begin to describe it. I love that the main character's family is based on a real Seattle pastor's family. The historical note section in the back has unbelievable, terrible facts and includes lots of photos. There are more photos on the website, by the way, which is amazing and awesome. Visit www.scholastic.com/dearamerica

At first I worried the diary format of the story would be too forced -- how in the world could they cover a lengthy war realistically? Larson is masterful. I loved all of her characters and the realistic relationships she developed between them. HIGHLY recommended -- I can't imagine teaching 4th grade history in Washington without this!

[Carmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

the return of Scholastic's 'Dear America' series- first person journal-style stories set in a variety of moments in American history. I loved Larson's "Hattie Big Sky" and was excited to see she did a book for 'Dear America.'
Here the narrator, Piper, daughter of a baptist minister of a Japansese-American congregation in 1940s Seattle takes us from a time just prior to Pearl Harbor (where her older brother was serving on the Arizona [he lives]) to the incarceration of the Japanese. She and her father relocate to Twin Falls, ID so he can continue his ministry with his congregation, now held in Minidoka. Based, in part, on Reverend Brooks Andrews of Seattle.

Historical notes, photos, web links, references at the back.

Piper has a believable voice and her friendships and encounters provide a snapshot of the time and the prejudice and persecution of the Japanese-Americans.