As I’ve said before, I like doing Book Bingo challenges because they help me discover books I might not have read otherwise. For example, We Are Not Strangers by Josh Tuininga. I don’t pick up a whole lot of WWII-related books because it’s a terrible time in history, but this “inspired by a true story” graphic novel fit a square I needed to fill and it ended up being an interesting and hopeful read.
We Are Not Strangers is inspired by the story of the author’s uncle’s grandfather, a Jewish immigrant who stepped up to help his Japanese-American friend (and apparently several other Japanese-American families) keep his home and business when he and his family were sent to internment camps.
There are two very interesting angles to this story. One is that Marco is Sephardic and immigrated from a tiny Turkish island; I feel like we don’t get a whole lot of Sephardic Jewish stories and it was cool to see the food they ate and the Ladino phrases they used! The other is that the story is set in Seattle’s International District, and the author/artist did a lot of research to incorporate real businesses, schools, and other establishments, so it’s an authentic snapshot of Seattle history.
The story itself is honestly a little slight, however. The author’s uncle only learned the story after his grandfather’s funeral, so I suspect Tuininga had to fill in a bit and fictionalize some things. In scope, I’d say this leans more towards novella or even short story than a true graphic novel. But it is also a story about a normal person stepping up to do the right thing in the face of a big injustice, and that is a timeless theme worth exploring. We could probably all use the occasional reminder that us average folks may not be able to make sweeping systemic changes, but we can sometimes make a world of difference for one person, one family, or one community.
The story is paired with good artwork. The characters are all distinct and the backgrounds are well-rendered. I also felt like it fit the tone of the story, as it wasn’t too cartoony or excessively stylized or anything.
I feel like this is the perfect book to get from the library, as it’s worth reading, but I’m not sure if it’s something I’d want to re-read often. That said, if you’re specifically interested in the history of the International District and/or the Sephardic community in Seattle, this might be a keeper for you.
TWs and CWs: This book discusses WWII, the Holocaust, and of course, the Japanese internment camps. However, it doesn’t get particularly graphic or explicit in most things, so it would probably be appropriate for tweens and up. There are a couple uses of racial slurs.
Format and Source: I read this as a hardback borrowed from Sno-Isle Libraries.
Book Bingo Prompts
Brick & Mortar: Signed Our Author Wall. Tuininga gave a talk at Brick & Mortar and signed their wall during the book bingo challenge, which is what prompted me to look up and read this book.
Book Bingo Progress
Nook & Cranny (Card 1): 9 out of 25 prompts complete. 1 bingo.
Nook & Cranny (Card 2): 5 out of 25 prompts complete. 0 bingos.
Brick & Mortar: 23 out of 25 prompts complete. 8 bingos.