This Light Between Us: A Novel of World War II
In 1935, Alex Maki’s teacher assigns him a pen pal, a French Jew named Charlie Levy. Trouble is, Charlie is a girl! Despite Alex’s initial reluctance, his friendship with Charlie grows, and their correspondence continues for years. Alex is introverted and interested in drawing cartoons. Charlie is anything but, and he confides in her more easily than with his older brother. Their friendship grows and continues even after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, when Alex’s father is arrested, and he is sent with his mother and brother to the Manzanar internment camp. Through her letters, Charlie describes increasing Nazi persecution of Jews. When the mail to Vichy France ceases altogether, Alex’s worries over Charlie are added to those for his father, who is still held by the FBI as a spy, and his mother and brother, neither of whom cope well with their imprisonment. Alex enlists in the all-Japanese American 442nd regiment in exchange for his father’s release and in the hopes of finding Charlie.
Writing for young adult readers, Fukuda tells a harrowing story of racism, war, and compassion. Alex begins the story as a shy boy stuck in his football-hero brother’s shadow. He confesses his desire to Charlie to be a cartoonist rather than a dentist as his parents want. He faces racism and struggles with the injustice of being locked up simply because of his ethnicity, then goes off to war where he confronts not only the horrors of battle, which Fukuda conveys in hauntingly realistic scenes, but continued racism—including his own internalized racism. Alex emerges as a courageous, caring young man.
This Light Between Us provides a unique premise in a unique World War II story. A thoroughly intriguing read.
