WE ARE NOT FREE by Tracy Chee

Chee, T. We Are Not Free, (2020) Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 

12 and up according to Amazon

If I had a dollar for every time a kid checked out We Are Not Free thinking it was a resource for their research paper about Japanese internment camps, well, I could probably get a grande latte at Starbucks at least. This book was on the Mass. Teen Choice Book Award list last year and everyone on the committee voted for its inclusion, which is extremely rare. 

The story is told in 14 different voices, each of them distinct and beautifully written. I listened to the audiobook version which was read by 11 different readers - all of Japanese descent. The characters’ monologues were interspersed with government documents and newspaper articles. The print version also had a handful of photographs, artifacts and illustrations. 

What I loved about this book is how it humanized all the kids and made them feel like real teenagers. Sure, they were being horribly treated by the government and their fellow citizens, but alongside that epic tragedy, they still had the everyday aspects of life - unsupportive parents, unrequited love, all the classics. And each kid felt like a real individual. I don’t know how much of that was the different voices and how much was the writing, but I believe they went hand in hand. 

This is a beautifully done book that was selected as a National Book Award finalist as well as a Printz Honor Book - and with good reason. I would recommend it for inclusion in any high school collection. It has been awhile since I read it, but I believe it is also middle school appropriate. From a curricular standpoint, it beautifully illustrates the impact of a draconian policy on teenagers in a way that would be accessible to modern teens.