Pearl

In Stores August 20, 2024

FIVE STARRED REVIEWS

• WGBH Summer 2024 Book Recommendation

• A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

• Kirkus Starred Review

• Publishers Weekly Starred Review

• Booklist Starred Review

• Horn Book Starred Review

• BCCB Starred Review

In a beautifully crafted and captivating graphic novel from award-winning writer Sherri L. Smith and Eisner-nominated artist Christine Norrie, a Japanese-American girl must survive years of uncertainty and questions of loyalty in Hiroshima during World War II.

Amy is a thirteen-year-old Japanese-American girl who lives in Hawaii. When her great-grandmother falls ill, Amy travels to visit family in Hiroshima for the first time. But this is 1941. When the Japanese navy attacks Pearl Harbor, it becomes impossible for Amy to return to Hawaii. Conscripted into translating English radio transmissions for the Japanese army, Amy struggles with questions of loyalty and fears about her family amidst rumors of internment camps in America -- even as she makes a new best friend and, over the years, Japan starts to feel something like home. Torn between two countries at war, Amy must figure out where her loyalties lie and, in the face of unthinkable tragedy, find hope in the rubble of a changed world.

About the Artist

Christine Norrie is a multiple Eisner-nominated artist and writer. She co-created the graphic novels Breaking Up with Aimee Friedman and Hopeless Savages with Jen van Meter and Chynna Clugston-Major, and has contributed to the Black Canary and Lumberjanes comics. She lives on a farm in Upstate New York, where she raises hens and maintains a large garden. Visit her online at christinenorrie.com.

PRAISE FOR PEARL

“Smith shines a spotlight on the lesser-known history of Japanese American ‘strandees,’ with Amy’s story mirroring aspects of figures like Iva Toguri D’Aquino and Tomoya Kawakita, both forcibly conscripted and seen as treasonous. Norrie’s gracefully composed, blue-toned illustrations heighten the emotions. Wordless scenes convey the horrors of the bombing; the titular pearl is a beautifully executed symbol of hope, survival, and life that also reflects Amy’s struggles with her identity as Japanese and American.  By turns devastating and uplifting, a powerful testament to the human will to survive—and thrive.“

—   Kirkus Review, starred review    

“A Japanese American 13-year-old questions her identity and loyalties when the two countries go to war in this emotional and riveting story of perseverance.”

—   Publishers Weekly, starred review  

[A]“luminous, poignant coming-of-age tale set against harrowing, heart-wrenching real life .”

—   Booklist, starred review

“Black-and-white illustrations colored with a solemn slate blue make expert use of the format to tell this painful and little-known history of Japanese American “strandees” whose stories often went untold for fear of American retaliation against “traitors.”

—   The Horn Book, starred review

“Amy’s triumphant tale is a reminder to treasure the beauty of life even with all its scars by surviving and thriving in times of adversity.”

—   The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, starred review

“Sherri L. Smith (American Wings) movingly imagines the complex life of a teen caught between two warring countries in the piercing historical graphic novel Pearl…Smith and Norrie's collaborative graphic title eloquently humanizes history with names, faces, and families, to create an intimate testimony of formidable challenges and resolute courage.”

—    Shelf Awareness

“…this is a truly beautiful story, artfully told, and it offers much fodder for conversation.”

 —    School Library Journal