"We Are Not Free" by Tracy Yee is a poignant novel that tells the story of a group of Japanese American teens living in California during World War II, who are forced into internment camps following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Narrated through multiple perspectives, the book explores themes of identity, loss, and resilience as these young people grapple with their experiences of injustice and discrimination. Through their friendships, struggles, and hopes for the future, they confront the harsh realities of prejudice while striving to maintain their sense of self and community in a time of uncertainty. [Generated by language model - please report any problems].

This book is the winner of numerous awards

This book has been graded for interest at 13-17 years.

This book is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed. This book was published in 2020 by Houghton Mifflin .

Traci Chee is an all-around word geek, she loves book arts and art books, poetry and paper crafts. She studied literature and creative writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and earned a master of arts degree from San Francisco State University. Traci grew up in a small town with more cows than people, and now feels most at home in the mountains, scaling switchbacks and happening upon hidden highland lakes. She lives in California with her fast-fast dog. The Reader is her YA debut.