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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
Why do I always read books that break my heart!!!!
check out my video review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLgxiN0MH3Y
check out my video review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLgxiN0MH3Y
I found the premise of this story fascinating, possibly because I had an overseas penpal as a kid. The pace of this book dragged on. It felt like nothing happened for the first half, and that includes the attack on Pearl Harbor. It reads more like a MG novel than a YA novel, which is fine, but it should be marketed as such. Overall, I'm left unsatisfied.
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Teen books for an Advanced Reader Copy.
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Teen books for an Advanced Reader Copy.
Fukuda brings history to life through the fictional story of Alex Maki, a Japanese American teen living on Bainbridge Island. Bainbridge Island is the first area from which Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps after the attack on Pearl Harbor. A quiet boy who dreams of becoming a cartoonist, Alex's closest friend is Charlie, a girl in Paris who has been his pen pal since they were nine years old. As their lives both change during the war, they find hope in their friendship.
Fukuda includes a list of books he read while researching, and I am curious to read some of those.
Fukuda includes a list of books he read while researching, and I am curious to read some of those.
I got about 30% of the way in before DNF'ing.
I have a small contingent of teen boys at my library who love male, soldier, action, war stories. I thought this would fit that bill. But nope. Perhaps it does, later on, but when teen boys, you have to grab them in the first chapter, and The Light Between Us does not do that. It open with two ten year pen pals conversing, then jumps about four years in the future. Charlie and Alex are still pen pals, but everything is still very calm in tone and style. Alex, his brother, and his mom have just been picked up from their home on Bainbridge Island to be transferred to the internment camp at 30% of the way in. But still: calm and collected. I don't feel for them, I don't want to race through to the next page to discover if they've learned of their fates yet. This will not fly with my teen readers-- nor with many teen readers.
I have a small contingent of teen boys at my library who love male, soldier, action, war stories. I thought this would fit that bill. But nope. Perhaps it does, later on, but when teen boys, you have to grab them in the first chapter, and The Light Between Us does not do that. It open with two ten year pen pals conversing, then jumps about four years in the future. Charlie and Alex are still pen pals, but everything is still very calm in tone and style. Alex, his brother, and his mom have just been picked up from their home on Bainbridge Island to be transferred to the internment camp at 30% of the way in. But still: calm and collected. I don't feel for them, I don't want to race through to the next page to discover if they've learned of their fates yet. This will not fly with my teen readers-- nor with many teen readers.
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
THE DETAILS ● UNLIKELY PENPALS ● A JAPANESE AMERICAN BOY --ALEX MAKI ● A FRENCH JEWISH GIRL --CHARLIE LEVY ● WWII BACKDROP --LOTS OF WAR SCENES ● INTERNMENT CAMP FOR JAPANESE AMERICANS ● JEWISH CONCENTRATION CAMPS
If you like stories based on WWII then you should really read/listen to this...it gave me some Between Shades of Gray vibes...although it didn't quite deliver the feels that BSOG did, it really shined from an educational point of view. It was enlightening, with the hate that his family endured from their hometown to the bus ride to Manzanar, the war scenes and, the atrocities of the concentration camps. I never really knew about the camp for Japanese-Americans...I may have learned about it in school, but it's been a while since I was in school.
Told mainly from the POV of Alex Maki...this is really his story. Charlie Levy is just a significant part of it...so is his family, especially his brother, the internment camps, and lastly the war itself. The war scenes did get a little monotonous for me...because I just wanted more Charley. Overall though...this is totally worth the read/listen.
The narration by Emily Ellet was phenomenal, she did a bubbly teenage french girl really well. I wish she would've had more parts in the story. Greg Chun as the Japanese-American boy was really well performed for the most part, too. His yelling-voice was really awkward and there are several instances where he does that, especially once he enlists.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
I really, really enjoyed this. It was wonderfully written and compelling and had wonderful main characters. It did occasionally feel like I was reading a non-fiction book, especially in Part 3; instead of focusing on Alex, it was about the group as a whole and what was happening and was just trying to explain events that were happening to set up later parts of the story for Alex. I also wasn't totally thrilled with the ending. It was maybe more realistic, but I don't necessarily want 100% realism from my historical fiction. But still, I definitely enjoyed reading this and recommend it.