World War II Hits Home - Rilegato

This is a young adult novel about the racism that swirled around Japanese-Americans at the time of their relocation during World War II. The protagonist is an 11-year-old girl, Diana, whose parents take in a boy from the Amache Relocation Camp in Colorado to live with the family so he can attend the local high school. This brings trouble for Diana, who, with her adventurous friend Snuffy, is quite capable of creating her own trouble as well. The narrative introduces readers to the feel of everyday life in a beet-farming town in 1944, including attitudes toward Mexican migrant workers. Events overseas in both France and the Pacific have a profound impact on the home front. Snuffy's high-school-dropout brother's hatred of all Japanese is intensified when his own brother is killed by Japanese soldiers in the Pacific. The purpose of this account is to show how damaging it can be when national prejudice is turned against a people just because their racial characteristics resemble those of others who threaten their safety. One hopes that present-day readers will recognize that prejudice against all Muslims of Arabic descent is just as misguided as was the prejudice against Japanese-Americans during World War II.