about the book
Zenji Watanabe was born in Hawaii and is a full-fledged American citizen, but you wouldn’t know that just by looking at him. Zenji looks Japanese, and in fact speaks the language—which is exactly why the U.S. government wants him. Zenji agrees to be recruited into the army for a top-secret mission: Spy on the Japanese.
It is World War II. If Zenji’s true identity is discovered, he will be executed, on the spot, as a traitor. As the war boils on, Zenji is caught behind enemy lines in the Pacific. He will have to rely on his Japanese heritage not just to fool the enemy, but also to face terrors in battle, survive the savage jungle, and find a way out of the cruelty of war that surrounds him.
about the author
Graham Salisbury’s family has been involved with Hawaii’s morning paper, the Honolulu Star Advertiser, for 100 years. Graham could definitely have followed in the footsteps of his forebearers, but instead of reporting, he decided he much rather liked imagining things that might have been or could be—in short, stories. He loves the exhilaration of exploring fictional themes, situations, and the lives of interesting characters.
Before becoming an author, Graham worked as the skipper of a glass-bottom boat, as well as a deckhand on a deep-sea charter fishing boat and as a Montessori elementary school teacher. He also has a rock-and-roll band, The Millennium, which had a Number One hit song in the Philippines! He has surfed with a shark, gotten stung multiple times by a Portuguese man-of-war, and escaped a moray eel. Having grown up in Hawaii, he didn’t wear any shoes until he got to sixth grade, and he never saw snow until he was 19 years old.
Today, Graham and his family live in Portland, Oregon.
Source:
Author website
Also by Graham Salisbury:
Night of the Howling Dogs. Wendy Lamb Books. 2007.
House of the Red Fish. Wendy Lamb Books. 2006.
Eyes of the Emperor. Wendy Lamb Books. 2005.
read more!
Eyes of the Emperor by Graham Salisbury
Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. began interring both Japanese prisoners of war and Japanese-Americans in the same camps, as if there were no distinction. Even though Eddy Okubo enlisted in the U.S. Army, he is treated just as poorly. When the army needs “bait” or test subjects for a project where dogs would be trained to hunt Japanese by their unique smell, Eddy is one of those the dogs will hunt, for practice.
Ink and Ashes by Valynne E. Maetani
On the tenth anniversary of her father’s death, Claire finds an old letter from him to her stepfather. She never knew that the two men knew each other, but what the letter reveals is the real shocker—Claire’s father was in the yakuza, the Japanese crime syndicate. Now Claire finds herself in a contest for her life to escape her father’s past.
Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
In her journal, American pilot Rose recounts how she ferried planes during WWII for the Allies and was captured by the Nazis. At the brutal Ravensbruck camp, she refuses to make bomb fuses, resulting in severe beatings, and is assigned to a high-security unit where the prisoners are abused in medical experiments by the Nazi doctors.


