Well, if you compare this to Far from the Bamboo Grove, it's both a masterpiece and much less a slanted view of history. But I do question whether this was a story that needed to be told, and I feel like Napoli centered the struggles and hunger and survival, which are certainly real and terrible, at the expense of nuance about the politics of it all. And I guess one of the problems is that since we don't have books about Italians living in Japan, and we can't pin all the responsibility on one group. But like....this is kind of like Argo. Compelling, but is it a responsible creative choice to make, sociopolitically and socioculturally speaking?

*I received an advance e-copy of this title from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.*

The world is kind of inundated with WWII fiction, but this perspective was unique. WWII as told through the eyes of a young Italian girl living in Japan.

The pacing was a little jarring for me, but as an educator I already see opportunities for creating timelines of Simona and Carolina's experiences against the history. Great conversations about racism, friendship, the heartbreak and humanity of wartime. There's a reason WWII is such a popular middle-grade topic, and Napoli's work embodies much of that draw. I already have plans to add this to my school's colelction.

In 1940, young Italian sisters Simona and Carolina move to Japan with their father, who takes a job as a cook at the Italian embassy. Going to a local school is not the easier thing Simona has ever done, since the children are not all that friendly, but she does manage to make a few good friends, and her Japanese language skills grow quickly. For a while, things are okay at the embassy, but as the world hurtles headlong towards WWII, things become increasingly difficult. The Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, and even though Italy is part of the Axis powers, there is increased prejudice against foreigners. When the US invades Sicily in 1943, Simona's father is worried about the US taking over Italy, and what that might mean for their relatives there. When the Japanese emperor declares that Italy is the enemy, things quickly become dire at the embassy. Eventually, all of the occupants are rounded up, told to bring one suitcase, and sent off to internment camps. The ambassador's wife wants to bring two suitcases, so Simona's is left behind. Eventually, the girls are separated from not only most of their possession, but also their father. Survival in the camps is very difficult, especially since food is scarce in Japan. Eventually the girls escape and make their way across the countryside, where they are helped by a variety of kind citizens who realize that they are just children and need care. When towns are being fire bombed, the latest person to care for them, a professor, feels that the girls are endangering him, and offer to drop them off in Omihachiman, which is supposed to be unimportant, but is also where their friend Aiko lives. The girls eventually end up in Hiroshima under the care of a Catholic church, but the radiation sickness is spreading, the town is in ruins, and they can only hope that the US soldiers can help them get back to Italy.

Strengths: Napoli is uniquely qualified to write this book, and I love the fact that it deals with Italian children living in Japan! It's especially interesting that the girls do not go to the international school but go to a local one, and their experiences with prejudice will resonate in the current climate. This is also a good survival story, much like Napoli's Stones in Water, which is one of my favorite WWII books. I've long thought that there should be a lot more books about the war in Italy. Marsden's Take Me With You, Hughes's Hero on a Bicycle and Spradlin's Jack Montgomery: World War II: Gallantry at Anzio are some of the few books that deal with this area of the world. Stelson's Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor's Story, Burkinshaw's The Last Cherry Blossom, Kadohata's A Place to Belong, and Smith's The Blossom and the Firefly are some of the few that deal with events in Japan.

Weaknesses: This was very dark, and oddly dense. Even though I have read a lot about WWII, it was tough going for me, and my students usually have very little background information.

What I really think: I'm a huge Napoli fan, but this was not my favorite. Her note at the beginning of the book about how dark this book was originally is very informative. Still, if I have enough money, I will buy this, since it is such a different viewpoint of WWII.