Published: 2022
Author: Emily Inouye Huey
Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, World War II, Fiction, Romance, Family, Realistic Fiction
Audience (Grade Levels): Teen / Grades 7-10
Number of Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5 Stars)
Goodreads Link: Beneath the Wide Silk Sky
Triggers: Racism, Violence, Rape, Racial slur, Death of a parent
Review By: Gina Iorio
Publisher’s Summary:
A portrait of the racism faced by America’s Japanese population during WWII.
Sam Sakamoto doesn’t have space in her life for dreams. With the recent death of her mother, Sam’s focus is the farm, which her family will lose if they can’t make one last payment. There’s no time for her secret and unrealistic hope of becoming a photographer, no matter how skilled she’s become. But Sam doesn’t know that an even bigger threat looms on the horizon.
On December 7, 1941, Japanese airplanes attack the US naval base at Pearl Harbor. Fury towards Japanese Americans ignites across the country. In Sam’s community in Washington State, the attack gives those who already harbor prejudice an excuse to hate.
As Sam’s family wrestles with intensifying discrimination and even violence, Sam forges a new and unexpected friendship with her neighbor Hiro Tanaka. When he offers Sam a way to resume her photography, she realizes she can document the bigotry around her — if she’s willing to take the risk. When the United States announces that those of Japanese descent will be forced into “relocation camps,” Sam knows she must act or lose her voice forever. She engages in one last battle to leave with her identity — and her family — intact.
Emily Inouye Huey draws inspiration from her own family history.
Review:
This was an amazing book. The author’s family history inspired the novel. Sam is a plucky heroine that enjoys photography, a hobby most women do not have in the 1940s. She wants to enter a contest, but doesn’t have the money for film because her family’s farm is on the cusp of being repossessed. Somehow, Sam is determined to enter the contest, but she faces bigger issues. Sam’s mother, the glue that held the family together, is dead and the tight family unit is falling apart. The town Sam has grown up in is becoming increasingly hostile. Many people believe Japanese Americans are not real Americans and they are loyal to the emperor in Japan.
Through the hardships, Sam shines as a determined young woman. She navigates a hostile world, attempts to keep her family together and pursues her dreams of becoming a photographer. Along the way, she finds love in an unlikely companion. The author does a wonderful job of capturing the attitudes of many Americans on the West Coast during the 1940s. Beneath The Wild Silk paints a truthful picture of what happened before and after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Her writing is beautiful and hooks the reader. This is a story of prejudice, survival, determination, and empathy. Beneath The Wide Silk is a novel every teenager should read.
Classroom & Curricular Connections:
- Social Studies & US History (WWII): A truthful, powerful exploration of the American home front during World War II, Executive Order 9066, and the devastating xenophobia, systemic discrimination, and forced incarceration faced by Japanese Americans.
- Social Emotional Learning (SEL): Rich themes centering on empathy, resilience, determination, coping with parental grief, and showing courage when encountering intense societal hostility.
- Language Arts / Visual Literacy: Explores the historical role of photojournalism as a medium for social commentary and historical documentation, examining how art can preserve identity and speak truth to power.
Extension Activity / Library Application:
- Historical Photojournalism Gallery Walk: Pair a reading of the book with historical photographs of the Japanese American incarceration taken by figures like Dorothea Lange or Ansel Adams. Have students act as curators, using Sam’s narrative lens to discuss how documentary photography impacts our understanding of history and discrimination.
- “Preserving Identity” Primary Source Activity: Given Sam’s determination to maintain her identity as her family is forced into a relocation camp, have students research the actual packing restrictions forced upon Japanese Americans (who could only bring what they could carry). Ask students to write a reflection on what single creative tool or personal item they would prioritize to keep their own identity intact under such conditions.
Diversity & Representation:
Drawing deep inspiration from the author’s personal family history, this ownvoices novel offers essential diversity and historical equity. It counters the traditional omissions of home-front history by giving Japanese American citizens a central, fully actualized narrative voice. The book accurately depicts the multi-faceted hardships of a marginalized community fighting to retain their legal rights, dignity, and cultural identity in the face of wartime racism.
Readalikes:
- We Are Not Free by Traci Chee
- Displacement by Kiku Hughes
- Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
