There are moments in a reader/teacher's experience when you can see a book getting ready to release and he, she, or they have already begun to pull thThere are moments in a reader/teacher's experience when you can see a book getting ready to release and he, she, or they have already begun to pull the "ladder" texts (READING LADDERS by Dr. Teri Lesesne) that might wrap-around the book to come. Of course, subject matter, especially historical periods, can create their own sense of ladders. Experienced readers, including librarians, reviewers, and classroom library curators, who have read middle grade and young adult for some time can point beyond the novels right to the other graphic novels with which THEY CALLED US ENEMY could reside and work in a ladder configuration. As one who has read Larry Dane Brimner's VOICES FROM THE CAMPS, I found many of those voices coming back to "tell of their accounts" while George shared his.
THEY CALLED US ENEMY meets and exceeds expectations for what it might present by way of subject and approach. For those of us who know George Takei for his witty presence in the social media spaces and his trademark "Oh myyyy" (or perhaps sci-fi fans will remember that there is an asteroid out there that named after the author) will experience more than a shift in the author's persona as presentation here becomes more of a revelation of who this figure has always been as witness to and advocate for those affected by an American government that would intern its own people. In his Today Show appearance with the book's release, the hosts were embarrassed to say that they were not taught about this moment in history and discovered this time period later in life.
In this light, I am designating THEY CALLED US ENEMY as a "gatefold title" that opens up and creates its own connections to other books about the internment of Japanese people by the American government during the 1940s. Part of what I am learning in visiting this time period is that to call this a Japanese Internment suggests something that is in error regarding those demanding and enacting internment and the internees. What's more, THEY CALLED US ENEMY opens itself to historical archives and documents that could be (and perhaps should be) used to help the book to open itself up beyond memoir into classroom resource that satisfies standards requiring the synthesis of text in the classroom experience.
As a "lightship" title, THEY CALLED US ENEMY, George Takei's memoir provides a narrative arc that begins "in media res" of the Takei family being taken into custody by soldiers. This is a moment that Takei references in his Today Show appearance on 16 July as an early formative memory related to the internment of his family and provides a place where classroom teachers might go to provide a quick, four-minute introduction to the story to come. This moment is depicted in eighteen panels over the span of four pages to set the scene for the book. Those sharing graphic novels with young readers will see the craft of story presented in panels that present dialogue and sound and silent response that make graphic novels a power medium by which to communicate quickly what might take prose paragraphs and pages to present. Three panels lead the reader out of the opening scene into a transition to. . .
George Takei presenting at TEDxKyoto in 2014. His TED talk, "Why I Love a Country That Once Betrayed Me." For teachers of older students, this talk clocks in at sixteen minutes as a means of leading into the memoir. THEY CALLED US THE ENEMY draws upon thirty-eight seconds of the talk in order to lead into the narrative to come. This provides an opportunity to "front load"the book or to serve as a summary of the text at the end as Takei becomes real to the readers who have experienced his memoir in graphic novel form.
Like other graphic novels presented about this time period, a singular and arresting color schema provide a mood for the text not distracted by the use of colors and effects. However, the creators of this book do present lighter moments within the memoir that begin to look most manga and anime style which will appeal to young readers who recognize the approach.
That the book does have lighter moments (don't miss a young George's attempt to conjure treats from American soldier/guards with the use of a "magic word" passed down by older boys in the camp) does not detract from the overall message and embedded themes of the work.
As the story unfolds, a time jump brings George Takei to Hyde Park in 2017. Footage of Takei's visi to the F.D.R. Museum and Presidential Library are available at platforms like YouTube which provide for multi-media interludes within the reading. This first interlude takes place at about the 10-15% of the totality of the text which might provide that "break" for young readers that help them to center the author's account with the words shared in real life.
The next look at an older Takei takes the reader backward in time to 2000 when he was appointed by President William Jefferson Clinton to the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission. This moment is depicted at about 60% of the total text and provides an opportunity to bring into the reading more of the historical arc that wraps around Takei's account.
Yet another historical allusion happens near the conclusion of THEY CALLED US ENEMY wherein Takei meets Martin Luther King Jr.. Even this moment is presented as a means to point the reader back to the influence of Takei's father upon the author's activism and advocacy.
As a hero's journey text, readers will see conflict between the experiences of a young George and the George who will age four years while in the camps. An older George questions the decisions, actions, and intentions of his father that are responded to in a way that provides an opportunity to talk about the lessons of our fathers. Takei references his father's lessons in his Today Show appearance and this moment is rendered clearly by way of expressing a theme of the book in the graphic novel form.
And, this memoir would not be complete without Takei's being offered the iconic role which be defining in the sense of media folklore, but the moment that Roddenberry offers Takei is not to be missed by readers for what this role has meant by way of representation. I don't need to suggest that students might be introduced to clips of Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu (who will ultimately achieve the rank of Star Fleet Captain of the USS Excelsior (Stardate 9521.6).
THEY CALLED US ENEMY is a powerful look at one man's experience while imprisoned as a child to bend toward current events that invite this graphic novel to not only be a stand-alone text as introduction to the subject but as a precursor to stories straight out of current events. Here, we move from "ladder" by way of historical event to "leading into" current events that allow Takei to present a beacon of hope achieved over a period of time to a moment in time that calls for that same hope.
It is my hope that a review of this graphic novel might create awareness of its release and availability to classroom teachers and how it might be presented in synthesis with other text to illuminate social issues that ask and require social response.
Fans of Mac Barnett's quirky sense of rapid-fire wit coupled with well-timed asides will love this new book that promises series. And these are the adFans of Mac Barnett's quirky sense of rapid-fire wit coupled with well-timed asides will love this new book that promises series. And these are the adult readers who come into contact with the book (like me). Aimed at the grades two to five set, the book is poised to be a quick, comic read. . .but wait. . .embedded within all of the fun is a sense of culture blended with rich vocabulary and allusion that is both subtle and purposeful at the same time.
The series seems to stem from the introduction to Mac's well-known TED talk in which he shares that he would ice-break with young campers that he used to spy for the Queen. And, here we have it. A young Mac spying for the Queen.
I was able to quickly consume this title all the while thinking about the readers with whom I would share this book when we return to school in the fall. And when the book releases in September of 2018, you'll have those readers in mind too. And so much the better because they will probably be in the room with you. ...more
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