By Maya Patterson

This month we discuss World War II experiences, from American Indian veterans and code talkers to Japanese internment camps. These posts follow the Arizona experience as showcased in WOW’s “Code Making and Perspective Taking” exhibit. This WOW Currents post explores World War II in the Pacific through Harry Mazer novels.

Mazer’s three novels about the attack on Pearl Harbor and of the U.S.S. Arizona describe different parts of the war. These include the initial attack and a boy’s reaction, the subsequent internment of Japanese-Americans, and the same boy’s participation in the war effort.

The first novel, A Boy at War, introduces Adam Pelko as he witnesses the Japanese planes flying over Pearl Harbor. His father, a navy lieutenant, was on the Arizona. Adam searches for answers throughout the novel, hoping to understand what happens with his friends, his father, and the war. In the second novel, A Boy No More, Adam, his mother and his sister move to California. Then Adam’s friend Davi sends a letter asking if Adam can help find his father. Davi and his family are Japanese-Americans, and his father has been sent to Manzanar, a Japanese interment camp. Finally, in the last novel, Heroes Don’t Run, Adam enlists in the Marines, even though he is underage. In the novel, he experiences war firsthand. He builds friendships with fellow soldiers and finds glory, but he also must face fear and death head on.

Mazer’s trio of novels sets the stage for one of WOW’s exhibit activities. “Sequencing Pictures” explores the timeline of World War II in the Pacific. Participants put four pictures, taken in December 1941, in chronological order. One photo shows President Roosevelt signing the declaration of war against Germany. Another pictures Japanese-Americans getting on a bus to a war relocation authority center. A third picture is of a naval dispatch announcing the attack on Pearl Harbor. The fourth photo is of flyers posted as a prelude to the Japanese Exodus. (This is not the actual order. You will have to set the timeline right yourself.)

WOW’s “Code Making and Perspective Taking” exhibit is open until December 15, 2016. At this exhibit you can also participate in activities to learn more about American Indian code talkers and Japanese-Americans in internment camps. Artwork from Tucson High Magnet School and Van Buskirk Elementary School are also on display, as well as original artwork from The Unbreakable Code, written by Sara Hoagland Hunter and illustrated by Julia Miner.

Journey through Worlds of Words during our open reading hours: Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Check out our two online journals, WOW Review and WOW Stories, and keep up with WOW’s news and events.

array(9) {
  ["_edit_lock"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    string(14) "1580492277:264"
  }
  ["_edit_last"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    string(3) "264"
  }
  ["_yoast_wpseo_focuskw_text_input"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    string(27) "World War II in the Pacific"
  }
  ["_yoast_wpseo_focuskw"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    string(27) "World War II in the Pacific"
  }
  ["_yoast_wpseo_metadesc"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    string(150) "Harry Mazer's novels explore World War II in the Pacific from the attack on Pearl Harbor to the following Japanese internment and fighting in the war."
  }
  ["_yoast_wpseo_linkdex"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    string(2) "88"
  }
  ["_yoast_wpseo_content_score"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    string(2) "30"
  }
  ["_yoast_wpseo_primary_category"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    string(0) ""
  }
  ["_thumbnail_id"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    string(5) "37464"
  }
}

• Themes: Maya Patterson
• Descriptors: Books & Resources, WOW Currents