Children's Book Review: The Two Terrors of Tulelake by W.M. Gunn

The Two Terrors of Tulelake by W.M. Gunn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Eye-opening historical fiction novel for more mature middle-grade readers.

The Two Terrors of Tulelake by Texas author WM Gunn is an eye-opening and suspenseful historical fiction novel about the Japanese-American internment camps set up on the West Coast during World War II. Entire families, rather, entire communities of Americans with Japanese heritage, were forcibly removed to hastily constructed internment camps and detained after the attack on Pearl Harbor as fears of spies and Japanese operatives raced through cities and towns across the West. The horrific events, both before and after the internments occurred, are recounted from the point of view of 16-year-old Ichiro Hisakawa, whose family members were all born in the U.S., yet still eyed with suspicion and subjected to detention in the Tulelake, California, camp along with thousands of others. What makes this story unique is the presence of a modern-day boy whose psyche is thrust back in time to 1942 and co-exists in Ichiro’s mind.

Bobby King was a 16-year-old bully in 2017. The product of a broken home, with an absent mother and alcoholic father, Bobby has been dealt a horrible hand, and his goal is to take out all his rage, hurt, and disillusionment on anyone and everyone else. Knocked unconscious when an act of vandalism and revenge goes wrong, he awakens to find himself the second personality inside Ichiro’s mind.

The story is filled with characters, both fictional and historical, and the perspective sometimes shifts from Ichiro/Bobby to others to provide context to historical events or circumstances that neither boy is privy to. There are good guys, bad guys, and followers, but Bobby eventually sees how he, too, was a bad actor in his time, similar to the evil Sergeant Weston at the camp. Young readers will clearly get the messages the story conveys, as Bobby’s cruel behavior is often demonstrated, and Sgt. Weston voices his vitriol over and over, often with a compassionate adult present in such scenes to point out the obvious hate and wrongdoing. The Hisakawa family is strong in the face of danger in the camp, heroic considering the ample examples of what happens to those who don’t go along with the gangs. The story goes a little long in setting up Bobby’s situation and the years spent in the camp, and while the chapters are nice sized, the length may discourage young readers.

I recommend THE TWO TERRORS OF TULELAKE to readers of middle-grade historical and science fiction.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Lone Star Book Blog Tours.

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