PEARL

A Japanese American girl from Hawaii is stranded in 1941 Hiroshima on the eve of the U.S. entry into World War II.

Amy’s parents have sent her to Japan alone to visit her ailing great-grandmother, whom she’s never met, though she’s heard family stories of her daring exploits as a pearl diver. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Amy is distraught, unable to return home. Drawing parallels between past and present, Amy’s great-grandmother looks back to 1879, when Japan annexed the Ryukyu Kingdom, based in Okinawa. Though afraid, she “survived. And thrived”—and she emphasizes that Amy, too, must persevere, even as she’s conscripted and forced to translate U.S. radio messages into Japanese. Her understanding of identity, loss, and belonging is further strained when she learns that her family has been imprisoned by the U.S. government. As 1945 approaches, readers familiar with the atomic bombings will be anxious to learn of Amy’s fate. Smith shines a spotlight on the lesser-known history of Japanese American “strandees,” with Amy’s story mirroring aspects of figures like Iva Toguri D’Aquino and Tomoya Kawakita, both forcibly conscripted and seen as treasonous. Norrie’s gracefully composed, blue-toned illustrations heighten the emotions. Wordless scenes convey the horrors of the bombing; the titular pearl is a beautifully executed symbol of hope, survival, and life that also reflects Amy’s struggles with her identity as Japanese and American.

By turns devastating and uplifting, a powerful testament to the human will to survive—and thrive.