Grenade

August 27, 2018
“One grenade is for the American monsters coming to kill your family.... You are to use the other grenade to kill yourself.” These are the orders that Hideki, a 13-year-old Okinawan student conscripted by the Japanese military, receives on Apr. 1, 1945, as newly deployed Pvt. Ray Majors and 183,000 American soldiers and Marines “boarded amphibious troop carriers and headed east toward the beaches of Okinawa.” Told in alternating perspectives by Hideki and Ray, Gratz (Refugee) depicts the events and fallout of WWII’s “Love Day” while exploring the emotional and cultural damages of war. As the two young men fight across the island of Okinawa, Ray tries to understand the nuanced relationship between Okinawan civilians (called “simple, polite, law-abiding, and peaceful” in a brochure U.S. command offers) and the Japanese military. Hideki, meanwhile, grapples with his growing realization that Okinawa is a “sacrificial stone” in the grand scheme of WWII, and that the Okinawan people have been manipulated and largely abandoned by the Japanese military. War is portrayed honestly here; though gore is kept to a minimum, the finality of death and the lasting emotional consequences are starkly rendered. An opening note explains that WWII-era terminology is used in the name of historical accuracy, and an author’s note elaborates. Ages 9–12. Agent: Holly Root, Root Literary.

August 15, 2018
In the waning days of World War II, two young soldiers tell both sides of their fight to survive.It's 1945, and Okinawa has been forced into the middle of the war between Japan and the United States. Thirteen-year-old Okinawan Hideki has been drafted to fight in the Imperial Japanese Army. Told the Americans are "monsters," Hideki is sent off with two grenades, one to kill as many Americans as possible and one to kill himself. Meanwhile, Ray, a young, white American Marine, has landed on the beaches of Okinawa for his first battle. Only knowing what he has been taught and told, Ray is unsure of what to expect facing the Japanese army and also the Okinawan civilians--who are "simple, polite, law-abiding, and peaceable," according to an informational brochure provided by command. Switching between the two perspectives of Hideki and Ray, Gratz (Refugee, 2017, etc.) has created a story of two very harsh realities. He shows what happens to humans as the fear, violence, and death war creates take over lives and homes. The authentic telling can be graphic and violent at times, but that contributes to the creation of a very real-feeling lens into the lives changed by war. A large-type opening note informs readers that period terminology has been used for the sake of accuracy, and a closing author's note elaborates on this. Intense and fast-paced, this is a compelling, dark, yet ultimately heartening wartime story. (maps, historical note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)

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October 1, 2018

Gr 5 Up-In 1945, as the U.S. army neared mainland Japan, the Imperial Japanese Army evacuated its elite troops from Okinawa and left behind a force meant to slow down the Americans in the bloodiest way possible. They recruited the native Okinawans into this army, including teens like Hideki, one of the two narrators of this gripping World War II novel. As Hideki takes his two grenades (one to kill U.S. soldiers and one to kill himself), he is fated to come across the other narrator, a young American soldier, Ray. Based on research and firsthand accounts the author heard while in Okinawa, history comes violently to life in this character-driven, fictionalized account. The battle details are accurate and the characters and the growing sense of the battle's futility are well drawn and poignant. There is some offensive contemporaneous language referring to Japanese people used within the narrative, which is explained in a note at the beginning and in greater detail in the detailed historical note at the end. While this is a chilling, realistic depiction of war, the violence is not glorified or graphically described. VERDICT An excellent World War II novel, best suited for mature readers who can handle the sensitive content and brutal realities of wartime.-Elizabeth Nicolai, Anchorage Public Library, AK

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 15, 2018
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* Okinawa native Hideki is 13 when American forces storm his Pacific island during WWII, and he and his classmates are pressed into service by the Japanese army. They are given two grenades and told one is to kill the American monsters and the other is to kill oneself afterward. Ray, 18, is a Marine enlistee fresh from a farm in Nebraska and about to enter his first battle. Both boys share the fear of the unknown, the primal need to survive, and a wish that the unnecessary death and destruction were done with. Hideki and Ray see battle up and down the island, using their wits and adrenaline to stay alive, but when they meet, the war changes for both. Told by both young men, the story is gripping from start to finish as each encounters ambushes, engages in battle and experiences its devastating aftermath, and mourns the plight of innocent civilians caught in the middle. Impossible to put down, the story unapologetically demonstrates how war affects people emotionally and physically. Some terminology used for accuracy (per the author's notes) and graphic descriptions may upset some readers. However, it is not without heartwarming and hopeful moments, especially as Hideki realizes that he possesses untapped stores of courage. Action fans will have this flying off the shelves.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2019
Alternating chapters relate the 1945 invasion of Okinawa from the perspectives of Hideki Kaneshiro, a fourteen-year-old conscript in the Japanese army, and young American Marine Ray Majors--until a climactic confrontation leaves Ray dead. Horrified, Hideki embarks on a perilous trek to find his sister and get them both to safety. The plot is suspenseful and the characters sympathetic; the unique Okinawan lens makes this WWII novel especially notable. Glos.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

November 1, 2018
As American troops prepare to invade the tiny island of Okinawa near the end of World War II, fourteen-year-old Hideki Kaneshiro is conscripted into the Japanese army (Japan had annexed the formerly independent kingdom a few generations earlier). Hideki is frightened but hopes to overcome a family curse of cowardice. Ray Majors, a young American Marine seeing his first action, is also unsettled about the upcoming battle. In alternating chapters, we experience the chaos and confusion of war through each boy's eyes until a climactic confrontation leaves Ray dead. Horrified?and having previously promised his dying father to forget the war, find his sister, and get themselves to safety?Hideki sets off on a perilous trek across the island. For a native Okinawan, the Japanese presented just as much of a threat as the Americans?the Japanese army used Okinawans as human shields in battle, for instance?and Hideki must repeatedly escape their forces as he traverses his war-torn homeland. As Hideki struggles to hold on to his humanity in such hellish conditions, he comes to realize that while he may still be scared, he is indeed courageous. World War II remains a popular historical fiction subgenre, and while the plot is suspenseful and the characters sympathetic, this novel by Gratz (Refugee, rev. 11/17) is especially notable for its unique Okinawan lens. Detailed information about the Battle of Okinawa is included in an author's note. jonathan hunt

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)