School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-5-In this moving tale of war and reconciliation Nobleman relates the experiences of Japanese pilot Nobuo Fujita, who flew two bombing missions over Brookings, OR, in 1942 (causing little damage and no loss of life) and returned to the scene 20 years later at the town's invitation to deliver a formal apology. What began as a then-controversial stunt intended to promote local tourism turned into something more profound-a warm lifelong relationship, with exchanges of visits and gifts until his death in 1997. Iwai matches the account's measured, matter-of-fact language with quiet watercolor scenes of a distant plane and a subdued explosion, of the dignified Fujita and his postwar family (who knew nothing of his missions until the invitation arrived), and of townsfolk welcoming him with a parade and ceremonies. Rather than adding a typical (and tedious) recap at the end, the author closes with a note on what drew him to this episode and an appreciation of the spirit shown on both sides, but particularly Fujita's: "He went from fighting to uniting. Which took more courage?" VERDICT A worthy addition for younger middle graders.-John Peters, Children's -Literature -Consultant, NY © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Nobleman (Fairy Spell) tells the little-known story of the only airplane bombing of the U.S. mainland during WWII-from a plane launched from a submarine via catapult. The book focuses on Nobuo Fujita, the Japanese pilot who flew the missions. Initial pages detail the September 1942 bombings of Oregon timberland, one early in the morning and one at night, in hopes of igniting a forest fire. The second half of the book describes later reconciliation visits between the pilot and residents of the tiny coastal town of Brookings: "Nobuo donated thousands of dollars to the town, specifically so that the library could buy children's books that celebrate other cultures." He also hosted high school students from Brookings, planted a tree at the bomb site, and, after he died, even had some of his ashes spread there: "A flutist played a solo combining the national anthems of Japan and America." Pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations by Iwai (So Small! Yosemite) deftly convey the story's many emotions. Full-color spreads and vignettes match a clear narrative that pays tribute to a change of heart and the importance of cultural understanding. Ages 6-9. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
While we remember December 7, 1941 (the date the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor), Nobleman and Iwai invite us to take a good look at September 9, 1942, when the Japanese dropped two bombs near Brookings, Oregonthe first time the continental U.S. had been attacked from the air. The fact that the author can tell this story more lightheartedly than not is attributable to both the limited damage the bombs caused (meanwhile, the forest was burninga bit) and the remarkable reconciliation that took place many years later between the people of Brookings and the Japanese pilot who led the mission, Nobuo Fujita. As the subtitle indicates, this is Fujitas story, from the submarine that surfaced to launch his plane (via catapult) to the target through his eventual return to Japan, the end of the war, and an invitation by the Brookings Jaycees in 1962 to visit the town for a Memorial Day service. Nobleman knows just the right tone to strike with this story, and he unfolds its events with a storytellers flair. Iwais line-and-watercolor illustrations, too, feel right, with a naturalistic cartooning that serves the storys many settingsthe dark Pacific, postwar Japan, Brookings both during the war and into the 1990s, when Fujita made a final visit to the town that would declare him an honorary citizen. There are several lessons here, organically made, and kids who come for the wartime action will be pulled along to the books ultimately pacific message. An authors note provides sources. roger Sutton (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The true story of the Japanese pilot who bombed the continental United States during World War II.In 1941, the United States was drawn into World War II after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. retaliated with a bombing raid on Tokyo. Wanting to prove that the continental U.S. could be bombed, Japan sent Nobuo Fujita in a small plane to bomb the woods of Oregon and start a raging fire. Flying over the small town of Brookings, Oregon, Nobuo dropped the bombs into the forest, but the bombs did not create the devastation and panic that Japan had hoped for. After Japan surrendered to the U.S. and its allies, Nobuo resumed civilian life with his family but lived with guilt and shame over his wartime actions. Years later the town of Brookings invited the Japanese bomber to their Memorial Day festival. Readers can follow his emotional journey toward forgiveness and peace. Nobuo's story of reconciliation, not only for him, but for Japan and the U.S., is powerful and poignant. Using watercolors and finely inked lines, Iwai illustrates the moving moments and events in Nobuo's life with grace and humanity. The story captures a side of World War II readers may not have seen before.A must-read story of a lesser-known World War II event and its aftermath. (Informational picture book. 6-9) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
In 1942, a small plane was catapulted from a Japanese submarine off the Oregon coast. Nobuo, the pilot, had strapped his family's 400-year-old samurai sword to his seat before flying over Brookings, a tiny town, to the woods beyond it, where his navigator dropped two bombs. Only one exploded, doing little damage on the ground, but its aftereffects on the pilot were almost unbearable. After the war, Nobuo told no one about the raid, but guilt weighed heavily on him until, in 1962, Brookings invited him back. Returning with his family, he presented his ancestral sword to the town. Nobuo revisited it several times, hosted local students on a tour of Japan, and died an honorary citizen of Brookings. Clearly written and sometimes moving, this quiet story is less about war than the toll it takes on those who fight, the possibility of reconciliation, and the value of understanding other cultures. The fluid, emotionally resonant ink-and-watercolor illustrations create period scenes effectively while capturing the tone of the text. A war story with a heartening conclusion.--Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2018 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
at A literacy center in Brooklyn where I volunteered a couple of years ago, I was often surprised by which books would catch a child's eye. It was not always the ones with bold jackets or zany titles, as I somehow expected. Often it would be a quiet story - a bit old-fashioned, even. One favorite was Barbara Cooney's 1982 "Miss Rumphius," about a girl who grows up wanting to fulfill her grandfather's request that she do something "to make the world more beautiful." After many travels she finally returns home and plants a lot of blue and purple lupines in the fields around her house. The end. I loved to watch how intently a young reader would turn the pages and puzzle out this modest and satisfying conclusion. I enjoyed the story, too - and while it was partly inspired by a real-life figure, I wanted it to be all true. Publishers of today's picture books must be on my wavelength. Perhaps nudged by the Common Core crusade, which called in part for high-quality nonfiction for children, they are producing a bonanza of beautifully illustrated and closely researched nonfiction books about unsung heroes as well as heroes we can't read enough about. Best of all, if you like true stories, they include superbly detailed endnotes and suggestions for further reading. It's anyone's guess which of these new books a child might reach for - but it might surprise you. CHILDREN who love words should warm to Alexandria Giardino's ode to an onion: Pablo Neruda and His Muse (Cameron Kids, 32 pp., $17.95; ages 4 to 8), which imagines a small episode in the life of a great poet. The spare prose echoes Neruda's own celebrations in verse of simple things, like the onion: "luminous vessel... bright as a planet," vanquishing "the hunger / of the laborer along the hard road." We first see Pablo at his desk, "writing a long, sad poem," until he realizes he's about to be late for lunch with his friend Mathilde. In Felicita Sala's vivacious and beautifully detailed drawings, done in colored pencil, Mathilde's smile and Pablo's glum expression give a tender humor to this real-life relationship, as they gather vegetables from her garden to cook. The full text of his poem "Ode to the Onion" appears in the original Spanish at the end, and in an excellent translation by Giardino. SO TALL WITHIN: Sojourner Truth's Long Walk Toward Freedom (Roaring Brook, 32 pp., $18.99; ages 5 to 9), written by Gary D. Schmidt and illustrated by Daniel Minter, is a stirring introduction to an extraordinary life. Born into slavery on a Dutch farm in New York State, Sojourner Truth chose her own name after she won her freedom and began a walk that, over her long life, extended to thousands of miles as she journeyed from camp meetings to abolition halls "to tell the truth about Slavery." She never learned to read or write, yet successfully sued a white slaveholder in court for the return of her son (who had been illegally sold), addressed the first Women's Rights Conventions, and insisted on riding in whites-only streetcars in Washington, D.C., after the Civil War. "I felt so tall within - I felt as if the power of a nation was with me!" The plain-spoken and eloquent quotations in this book come directly from her 1878 memoir, "Narrative of Sojourner Truth." Daniel Minter's paintings, in saturated tones of midnight blues and leaf browns and golds, bring it powerfully to life. did you know that Japan bombed Oregon during World War II? I didn't either. Sometimes the most inconsequential episodes in larger stories can turn out to be the most moving, and so it is with thirty minutes OVER OREGON: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story (Clarion, 32 pp., $17.99; ages 6 to 9), by Marc Tyler Nobleman, illustrated by Melissa Iwai. After Pearl Harbor, apparently, the Japanese military believed a successful attack on the United States mainland would be effective propaganda, so in 1942 a bombing raid was planned to start a fire in the Oregon woods that would "rage into nearby towns and cities." Iwai's fine renderings of the unsuspecting townspeople of Brookings, Ore., are matched by her depictions of the bomber, which was launched from a Japanese submarine deck by slingshot. Fortunately, the plan failed, but the story goes someplace completely unexpected when, years later, the boosterish citizens of Brookings track down the pilot, Nobuo Fujita, to invite him to a Memorial Day ceremony. He is welcomed warmly - and even teased about his poor fire-setting skills - and friendships made that day continue to grow for another generation and beyond, until his story becomes a thought-provoking meditation on the power of forgiveness, of others and oneself. the "girls who code" movement should probably get some extra credit for the trend in fine books about women who made history in science and math, nothing STOPPED SOPHIE: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain (Little, Brown, 32 pp., $17.99; ages 4 to8), written by Cheryl Bardoe and illustrated by Barbara McClintock, tells the story of a young woman who made her mark in the lofty academies of Paris after the French Revolution. With trouble in the streets, Sophie was often forced to stay inside for her safety, and she fell in love with the study of mathematics. She would even sneak out of bed to work on problems while everyone was asleep. Her parents' response? To take away her candles! Yet she didn't give up, and in 1816, after years of work, she won a grand prize from the Royal Academy of Sciences for solving an "impossible" problem: how to predict patterns of vibration, a real-life challenge to designers of buildings and bridges. Barbara McClintock's illustrations in markers, gouache and collage show Sophie moving through life in a bright swirl of numbers, floating like thought balloons all around her. Refreshingly, Sophie Germain's story not only reminds us of the importance of perseverance, it recalls a time when discoveries were often made by hard-working amateurs - for the fun of it. JULIE just, a former children's books editor at the Book Review, is an editor at The New York Review of Books.