"We Are Not Free" by Traci Chee tells the story of a group of Japanese American teens living in California during World War II. As they face the realities of internment after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, their lives are irrevocably changed. The novel explores themes of identity, resilience, and friendship through the lens of historical events, highlighting both the personal struggles and collective experiences of these young individuals. Each character grapples with their own challenges, navigating loyalty to their country, family, and each other, while confronting injustice and fighting to reclaim their identity amidst adversity. [Generated by language model - please report any problems].

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

There are 400 pages in this book.

It 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 Clarion Books .

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.