UNDER THE BLOOD RED SUN by Graham Salisbury

Salisbury, Graham. Under the Blood Red Sun. 1994. New York:  Delacorte Press. ISBN 038532099x

Salisbury’s Hawaiian roots and interest in WWII come together in this Scott O’Dell Award winner about a Japanese-American family during the days surrounding the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  The central character is Tomi Nakaji, an eighth grader who lives with his fisherman father, housekeeper mother, honor-obsessed grandpa, and young sister, Kimi.  Tomi has a best friend named Billy who is haole (white) and loyal throughout the story.  Tomi has to mature quickly when his father and grandfather are arrested after the bombing, his mother is fired from her job, and he faces a bully whom he cannot fight without shaming his family. 

Salisbury is thorough in detailing life on the islands as well as capturing the tension between the races following the bombing.  The hardships, suspicion, prejudice and fear experienced by the Japanese-Americans is believably portrayed.  There was authentic broken English among the immigrant characters who still struggle with a foreign tongue, and several Japanese words used throughout the book also add to the flavor of authenticity.  I found, however, that this hindered the flow of the story for me as I had no background to know how the words should sound, and it was not always clear in the context what the words meant.  I found myself wishing there was a glossary of the foreign words to help with pronunciation and meaning.

Themes of love of country, loyalty, friendship, national and family honor, permeate the story.  Grandpa repeatedly emphasizes “You cannot be a troublemaker and bring shame on this family.” Yet the shame he feels when his own country attacks Pearl Harbor, practically breaks him.  Baseball also plays a prominent role in the story as it brings a measure of normality to the chaos during the healing after the bombing.

Under the Blood Red Sun would be a good launching point for middle schoolers to explore the WWII conflict in the Pacific.  It could be paired with Marissa Moss’s Barbed Wire Baseball, the biography of Kenichi Zenimura who was sent to an internment camp for Japanese-Americans during the war.  He brings baseball to the prison camp as a means of coping with the tragedy of the unjust imprisonment of Japanese-Americans.  It could also be paired with The Green Glass Sea to explore the US solution to ending the war.

Student enthusiasts of the book have posted reviews on Barnes and Noble with glowing accolades such as, “I felt like I was Tomi,” “This is the best book that I ever read!”, and “this book helped me understand the concept of the bombings at Pearl Harbor. Especially since it came from the perspective of a boy my age.”   Kirkus is spot on as it observes, “Salisbury evokes historical time and place effortlessly so that the true message of the story—the value of friendship—shines through.”