Reviews

Tokyo Rose: zero hour by Andre R. Frattino

florapants84's review against another edition

informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

“Many years ago, Major Charles Cousens taught me to stop worrying about what other people think about me. How I appear or sound to them.” —Iva Toguri 

I’m not sure when or why I learned about Tokyo Rose and her “alleged” betrayal of the country of her origin, but that just goes to show what an effective and insidious tool propaganda can be. Iva Toguri became a victim of WWII war time propaganda, and her life was profoundly impacted by false testimonies. 

What a great medium to convey the events that transpired! I was transported to another time and place. While I read, I listened to a playlist that American, Filipino, and Australian POWs would have been listening to in Southern Pacific camps.

awesomerah's review

informative medium-paced

4.0

blackwolf294's review

3.0

This was an interesting bit of history that I hadn't heard before. I certainly learned a lot, and the story's message got across clearly without being preachy, instead letting the facts and history speak for themselves. However, I would have maybe liked it to be a bit longer. Perhaps some of the information that was in the exposition could have been added to the story itself instead. And there were several typos throughout that took me out of the flow of the narrative. Despite those things, though, I did learn from and enjoy this short graphic novel about a little-known piece of history.

mrsbeeamazing's review against another edition

emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

4.0

mattyb's review against another edition

informative inspiring tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, War, and Racism

Moderate: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, and Racial slurs

Minor: Deportation

shannonsacoman's review

challenging emotional informative fast-paced

4.75

library_kb's review against another edition

challenging informative tense medium-paced

4.5

My first memories of hearing of Tokyo Rose was a reference in the show Hogan's Heroes. Beyond that, I knew nothing about the persona or history surrounding the name. This book was fascinating because I learned so much about the situation--even though it was not full color and sometimes the artwork and script were not equally as important to the storytelling, I highly recommend this nonfiction graphic novel for high school and up (mostly because of pacing, not content). 

geolatin's review

challenging emotional informative sad medium-paced

3.75

xiphactinusfish's review

challenging dark informative

3.5

rebann1981's review

informative sad fast-paced

5.0