This fills such a meaningful place in stories about the Japanese internment camps. I’ve read a lot of nonfiction and a lot of books from a child’s perspective, but this is the first one that looks at teens just trying to be teens in a difficult situation and against immeasurable odds. I did have a bit of an issue with the book, and that is the characters were very similar. Towards the end, a few of them had different chapter types (poems, second person perspective, letters, etc) that delineated who was speaking, but otherwise they all have pretty much the same voice. I often forgot who was talking bc they spoke identically. While their individual stories were unique, the actual points of view got very muddled. I loved the perspective of the boys who became soldiers, again reinforcing the badassery of the 442nd, but the stuff in the camps could have used a bit more drama sometimes to keep the plot going. Not even war drama—even some more teen angst drama would have been welcome. Anything to make the story progress. This was a marathon book that, with the topic and number of characters, should have been a sprint.

Honestly I don’t have an interest in reading this book anymore and I want to be more selective with what I request.

SUCH an intriguing start.. Made me want to read the full book! I'm excited to see where these characters go!

Full disclosure: I received a the chapter sampler of this novel from netgalley.

While I was not able to read the entire novel, this book is important as we are our history. There are not many books about the internment camps during WWII meant for YA readers and to hear so many voices narrating their experience, while may be a lot, is powerful. I look forward to reading the book in it's entirety.

This book was interesting . It was heartbreaking to read about all the ugliness that these kids suffered through during this time.

une mise en bouche sympathique, maintenant je ne sais pas si je le lis entièrement en anglais ou si je patiente jusqu'à une éventuelle traduction en français :D

Thank you so much to net galley for sending me a copy of this book, I thought this book was exactly what we all need right now. I’ve gotten many good books about this subject from netgalley

Full disclosure, I received a chapter sampler for this a while back from the publisher.

With books like this, it's hard to separate the actual literary value from the importance of the subject matter. I haven't read much about Japanese internment camps and seeing the topic explored in YA felt really important. Thematically wise, I'm glad this book exists. But considering We Are Not Free threw me into a 3-day reading slump, I can't honestly give it a high rating.

This book is ambitious. We have (I think) 15 separate narrators telling the story which I think was what made this such a difficult, slow read for me. None of the characters sound distinct and it caused me to constantly have to look back and check who's perspective I was in. Everything felt hollow and detached and while some of my favorite historical fics take on that same detached feel, it never felt intentional here and it made it really really hard to connect to any aspect of the narrative.

An absolutely compelling read, even just being a couple of sample chapters. I admire that it doesn't sugarcoat life before the Executive Order. We see the racism they were already facing. We also see a variety of responses to the new reality, even a sort of freedom to explore their personalities in new ways. I can't wait to read the rest of this book.

This chapter sample includes the first few chapters of We Are Not Free, including scanned documents from the 1940s and an illustration created for the story. I appreciate this context and think the multimedia approach makes the text engaging. It's also very clear this book was thoroughly researched, and I was hooked from the first line. The story follows several 1940s San Francisco-based Japanese Americans, and in the portion I read, the text discusses the anti-Japanese racism of the time as well as the lead up to the Japanese incarceration camps. The many characters have distinct personalities and voices and I especially loved the emphasis on artistic expression. I cannot wait to read this full book when it comes out next month.

Really intrigued by this book and am enjoying what I have read so far. Will definitely be purchasing to complete.

I feel like there aren't enough books about the Internment of Japanese Americans after Hiroshima, and definitely not in the YA section. I don't even think it was mentioned during history lessons at my school, even though, it's an important part of history to learn about.. So when I read the title and synopsis for this book I knew I had to read this.

I really felt that the atmospheric descriptions added to really grounding you into the story and I also think that the fact that you got multiple perspectives really helped to see how different people, of a different age, react to and handle such a dehumanising and horrible experience. The characters Minnow (Minoru), Shig (Shigeo) and Yum-Yum (Amy) were well rounded and were all very likeable along with their group of friends. Everyone had a distinct voice and, because the book also can be split into timeframes of before the evacuation, during the evacuation and inside the internment camp. It does help paint a bigger picture, since all of these characters have a different perspective on things. I think that the illustrations and photos helped form more of an image of what it was like without showing gruesome things.
This book shows how helpless it can make you feel when you're young and you can't do or have to do certain things, because of your race even when it's incredibly degrading and cruel.

Even though it handled such a serious and layered topic/theme it did it with heart and sometimes even humour, in unexpected ways. It gave me a lot of emotions, such as outrage and sadness, but I ended with a smile when I finished the book.

One of the many quotes from the book that stood out to me is:
"And I get it, finally. Gaman.
The ability to hold your pain and bitterness inside you and not let them destroy you. To make something beautiful through your angers, or with your anger, and neither erase it nor let it define you. To suffer. And to rage.
And to persevere."

I feel like this is a book for anyone that is either still young or hasn't learned about this part of history yet and wants to or anyone who is looking for an insightful YA. This book is AMAZING!

This is the story of fourteen Japanese American teenagers whose lives are upended by World War II and the creation of Japanese Internment camps, in which thousands of people with Japanese ancestry were evicted from their homes and forced into government run camps. While this is just a chapter sampler, Traci Chee captures the complex emotions of the time- of teenagers who just want to enjoy their youth, of families ripped apart by the upheaval, of loyal American citizens who were locked up simply due to where their ancestors are from- in an appropriate mix of heaviness and levity. I absolutely cannot wait to read the rest of this book!

From this chapter sample it is difficult for me to say much about we are not free. After the 2 chapters the book just hadn't quite hit it's stride yet. So it's hard for me to say much because there are plenty of books that build great things from simple beginnings.

A quick techy note some of the more artistic pages such as the character registry that appear before the first chapter were impossible to read on the kindle.

I tend not to be a huge fan of historical fiction and I don't know if I missed something in the description but I wasn't aware of that going in. The focus on Japanese internment camps was a unique side of world war 2. Being from the Pacific most of what I learned about the war was focused through our lens. I was excited to see a depiction of history that is largely forgotten about.

For me we are not free has the potential to be an excellent book. Something about this chapter sample just wasn't hitting quite right.

It's been a few months since pearl harbor. Nisei has two brothers. I like the name Nisei. Nisei is Japanese along with rest of his town and considered dangerous. Niseis family and rest Japanese are being sent camps.i really liked the characters and preview.

This gave me just enough of a teaser to wish I had the full book! I can't wait to read We Are Not Free.

I have always been a history nerd, and honestly I haven't learned anything about Japanese Internment Camps only that they existed and it happened after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Seeing a book by an ownvoices author, who's family has been in those Internment Camps is really important because this type of content should be more prioritized to those what happened to Asians during WW2.

Even though this is a 3 chapter sample, I was deeply engrossed into this story. Maybe it's because I do not know much about Internment Camps only from a few discussion in school, and I deeply wanted to know how Amy is going to turn out by the end of this.

It's so interesting and I highly recommend We Are Not Free for those who are fan of Historical Novels and ownvoices author!

I really enjoyed this sampler! A very engaging first look that has definitely left me excited for the full release.