Caged Eagles (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) [School & Library Binding]

Eric Walters (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2000

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Tadashi struggles to understand the racism and injustice that overtake his life when he and his family are forced by government edict to abandon their home and journey with other Japanese-Canadians to an internment center.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9-This sequel to War of the Eagles (Orca, 1998) stands on its own. In 1942, all the inhabitants of the fishing village in British Columbia where Tadashi Fukushima was born and raised are evicted and temporarily resettled in a former Vancouver fairgrounds. Courtesy, patience, and a fatalistic attitude seem to help the adults cope with the indignities to which they are subjected. However, 14-year-old Tadashi can't understand why they cooperate when family possessions must be left behind; his father is forced to live separately; and he, his mother, sisters, and elderly grandmother must make an animal's stall their home. Soon he finds a friend with whom he can explore and test the limits of their confinement. Slipping under the fence, they venture outside, only to discover the hostility of Vancouver streets. In the end, though, their willingness to take risks makes it possible for his father and other villagers to decide the fate of their boats, which represent their livelihood. Tadashi is a likable character who struggles to understand how his hardworking father and neighbors could be seen as spies, cares deeply for his family, and even has sympathy for the discomfort of a Canadian bureaucrat. Readers share his bewilderment at the injustice of his situation. In an afterword, the author makes clear the point at which the fiction differs from the historical record and discusses the difficulty of writing from outside the culture. A disturbing and convincing story that needs to be told.
Kathleen Isaacs, Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-9. In this companion to War of the Eagles (1999), Walters hopes to help readers "understand a neglected and sad time" in Canadian history, and he admirably succeeds. His fast-paced novel avoids heavy-handed moralizing as it portrays the internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II. Walters focuses on 14-year-old Tadashi Fukushima, whose family is forced to settle with other "enemy alien" families in cattle barns at the Pacific National Exhibition grounds. Readers will share the family's humiliation, anger, and depression as its members try to maintain their dignity while avoiding retribution. They will also recognize, as Tadashi does, that in spite of demeaning conditions, a family member's death, and uncertainty about the future, the situation has elements of adventure. This becomes apparent after Tadashi meets Sam, who introduces him to no-holds-barred baseball, the excitement of sneaking out of the camp and smuggling out letters, and the rewards of helping Tadashi's father achieve a defiant measure of revenge. In an afterword Walters shares his concerns about writing from the vantage of an outsider. Chris Sherman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• School & Library Binding: 256 pages
• Publisher: Turtleback (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0613864158
• ISBN-13: 978-0613864152
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,113,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars World War II Injustice, April 24, 2001

By 

Padmini Prabhakar (Cerritos, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Caged Eagles (Hardcover)

This well researched book describes the confusion and resignation of three generations of the Fukushima family. All the Japanese Canadians living in a fishing village in British Columbia are placed in an internment camp in Vancouver by the Canadian government during World War II. Fourteen-year-old Tadashi tries to understand the injustice of their internment and cannot believe that his hard working father and other Japanese men in the camp could really be spies. This historical fiction educates its readers about an embarrassing period in both American and Canadian history when both countries ill-treated its own citizens during World War II because of their ethnicity. In an afterword, the author shares his experiences in writing this fiction book without changing major facts of history. Though it is a sequel to "War of the Eagles," this book is a story by itself.