Valerie O. Patterson (Children's Literature)
Using her brother’s binoculars, eleven-year-old Hazel Anderson has been keeping a lookout for enemy planes near her Hood River Valley, Oregon, home ever since the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on her ninth birthday. Coming back from one of her scouting outings, she finds a small strip of paper with Japanese characters written on it flapping in the wind. She tries to translate the message, fearing the words are a message to the Japanese emperor. She makes out two words “mother” and “tree” but even those may not be right, so she delays taking the information to the police station. One day she hears someone chopping brush at her neighbor’s house and comes face to face with what looks like a Japanese boy. Her neighbor, Mr. Lanski, explains that Sogoji is an American. Orphaned, he was hidden by the Lanskis when the other Japanese Americans were rounded up and sent to internment camps. Hazel wrestles with keeping Sogoji’s secret, not knowing for sure whether he is the enemy. The two develop a friendship that is tested when Hazel and her brother, Frank, find evidence of a balloon attack on US soil. When Sogoji is discovered by authorities and sent to an internment camp, Hazel decides what it means to stand up for your beliefs. This well-crafted novel tackles subjects as difficult today as they were during World War II--loyalty, patriotism, and the meaning of friendship. 2005, Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers/Random House, $15.95. Ages 10 to 14.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2005 (Vol. 73, No. 12))
War is a complicated thing for 11-year-old Hazel Anderson. Everyone knew how Mr. Erickson's nephew Sam had a rough time in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, and now her friend Jed, who's been like a big brother to her, is missing in action, perhaps imprisoned or dead. Her new friend Sogoji has been sent to a Japanese internment camp, and her new teacher, the community's own war hero, has turned out to be a deserter on the lam. Hazel comes to realize so many things are beyond her control, but perhaps there's room in the world for someone willing to act kindly, to be a friend who can hope for Sogoji's return to a more welcoming community. Hazel stands up for her friend when many in her community do not, willing to make her name Mud in order to do what's right. This powerful work deftly explores how war affects a community, when the identity of friend, enemy and hero is sometimes difficult to discern. Fans of Cheaney's Elizabethan thrillers The Playmaker (2000) and The True Prince (2004) will find this equally compelling. (author's note) 2005, Knopf, 256p, $15.95. Category: Fiction. Ages 10 to 14. © 2005 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Sandy Scroggs (Library Media Connection, October 2005)
The Japanese spoiled Hazel's 11th birthday party on Dec. 7, 1941. The government then moved local Japanese families to an internment camp. Three years pass during which time there are many changes in lifestyle and family lives. As the story opens, Jed, the neighbor's son, who has been dating her sister, is leaving to join the Marines. Hazel, always pretending to be a soldier, considers all Japanese her enemy and continues watching for the Japanese to attack her community in Hood River, Oregon. Jed has asked her to help his parents and she discovers they are hiding Sogoji, a Japanese orphan. As she continues to visit Jed's parents she gets to know Sogoji and tells the story of their activities and the daily life at the school that has a wounded vet as the teacher. Students will enjoy Hazel's descriptions of the events. This book is an excellent choice for a read-aloud or assigned reading for showing the cultural bias and conditions within the United States during World War II from a young teen's perspective. Recommended. 2005, Alfred A. Knopf (Random House), 272pp., $15.95 hc. Ages 10 to 15.

Elizabeth Bush, Reviewer (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, October 2005 (Vol. 59, No. 2))
Since the United States entered the fray in 1942, war has impacted every aspect of Hazel Anderson’s life. Her father has gone to work in a shipyard, coming home on infrequent visits; her brother has signed on with the Young America Work Corps; older sister Estelle has sent her fiancé, Jed, off to the service; and with school teachers in short supply, a wounded veteran has taken over the classroom and seems to be worming his way into Estelle’s affection. Hazel throws herself into the spirit of domestic defense, totally buying into wartime propaganda and reveling in radio dramas that fuel her desire for acts of heroic patriotism. In this frame of mind, the twelve-year-old stumbles upon Sogoji, a teenager of Japanese origin who is hiding out with Hazel’s Oregon truck-farmer neighbors. Though the two embark on a tenuous friendship that forces Hazel to reconsider much of her anti-Japanese bias, fear and prejudice are mighty hard to overcome in volatile times, and Hazel can’t quite shake off her suspicions that Sogoji may not be all he seems. Hazel’s ferocious adolescent loyalties and moody outbursts are believable, and the twist that unveils the real deceiver in the community is kept neatly concealed throughout most of the story. Some may find the page count daunting, but Hazel’s companionable narration, laced with plenty of dialogue, should draw early middle-schoolers steadily along. Pair this with Virginia Euwer Wolff’s Bat 6 (BCCB 6/98) for a before-and-after fictional exploration of anti-Japanese sentiment. Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2005, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2005, Knopf, 266p, $17.99 and $15.95. Grades 5-8.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2006)
During World War II, Hazel longs for a way to contribute to the war effort in her small Oregon town, but being an eleven-year-old girl doesn't give her many options. While building an observation post, she discovers a Japanese-American boy in hiding. Though the plot moves slowly, Hazel's questioning of the racism entrenched in her society is believably ?ortrayed. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2005, Knopf, 266pp, 15.95, 17.99. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 4: Recommended, with minor flaws.

Melissa Moore (VOYA, August 2005 (Vol. 28, No. 3))
Ever since the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on her ninth birthday, Hazel Anderson has been on guard against the enemy from her Oregon home. In the last three years, she has made other sacrifices as well-her father has gone to Portland Yard to build ships, her older brother is now in the Young America Corps, and her sister's boyfriend-Hazel's secret crush-has been sent to Guadalcanal. Before he left for battle, Jeb asked Hazel to keep an eye out for the enemy. When she discovers Sogoji hiding nearby to avoid the internment camps, she slowly makes a friend, and in doing so, discovers the true ugliness of racism. Hazel is loveable and brave, and her independent spunk is admirable. Her conflict between fervent patriotism and loyalty to Sogoji is believable and one with which preteens should be able to identify in twenty-first-century America. The portrayal of Sogoji is fairly accurate, although his broken dialogue is not consistent. The parallel story line of an honorably discharged corporal who has taken on the roll of schoolteacher gives depth to the wartime events. This novel brings to light an underserved portion of American history, and although not a riveting read, it serves to address some critical historical issues through the lives of several well-developed characters. VOYA CODES: 3Q 2P M J (Readable without serious defects; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2005, Knopf, 266p., $15.95. Ages 11 to 15.