Under the Blood Red Sun

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Summary: I think it was a good book and fine for young children.
Review: It is a very good book about how the japanese people were treated back then. It is about a boy that has to keep faith that his grandpa and dad wont die.

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Summary: 1995 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
Review: I had to write this book twice, from two different points of view, before it started singing for me. Spending time with these boys was an enormous pleasure. Under the Blood-Red Sun won the 1995 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, an honor I absolutely treasure, because Scott O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins was THE young-reader book that got me interested in writing for that group of readers. Funny how things work out. Life is good

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Summary: A story of friendship in a life changing experience!
Review: This very well written book, Under the Blood Red Sun, had my interest from the very beginning. It has a strong beginning but then starts to slow down. Right after the first chapter the book caught my interest back.

This was a book of a boy, Tomikazu, who was of Japanese descent. He had a Japanese family including his mother, father, sister, and grandfather. Tomi lead a normal life in Hawaii until Pearl Harbor was bombed. Tomi's life then changed. People started calling the Japanese names like Japs. Tomi went through some very dangerous and life threatening adventures. As well as his life, his attitude changes also. His family is going through a very hard time and Tomi learns to be more responsible and respective, especially to his grandfather.

My favorite character in this book would be Tomi's grandfather. I really like how Graham Salisbury told about the grandfather's attitude very detailed and clearly. In the beginning the grandfather was portrayed as a grumpy old man. Later in the book I saw that Tomi was becoming closer to his grandfather than he was before. One reason I think get this idea is because the grandpa told Tomi that he hated puppies and he was going to drown them. The next morning Tomi saw that his Grandpa had built a fence for the puppies that he threatened to drown.

My favorite part of this book was when Tomi went to find and help his father. He finds him but unfortunately cannot help him. Tomi has to be very secretive about this, so secretive he cannot talk to his father eye to eye or he might get caught. I like how Graham Salisbury describes how Tomi moves and walks. It really paints a picture in my mind of how it really would have been.

I think one of the main ideas in this book is that friends can be friends no matter what the difference is between them. My reason for this is that even though Billy is white and Tomi, Japanese, they manage to stay friends the whole time. They have some problems like older brothers and neighbors but they eventually leave that subject alone. All throughout this book Tomi and Billy keep helping each other out. One way is when Tomi was sad about his father; Billy comforted him and tried to make him feel better. I feel this is a very strong idea in this book and that Graham Salisbury showed it very well.

This book has many strengths but also some weaknesses. One weakness it definitely has is that the book starts to move really slowly and made me unsure if it was a good choice. It starts to speed up soon after and it pulled my interest in much more. I also think that it has many strengths. One is that Graham Salisbury would write about something and then make it really start to happen. When Tomi was talking about how dangerous tugboats are because of their propellers and how he gets sucked under water by one, the level of suspense went up!

My recommendation is to try this book out. I would read at least beyond the first chapter before putting the book down because it does have a weak spot for a little while. I thought the book was great and I learned many things about the Japanese discrimination in Hawaii.

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Summary: Great Book !!!
Review: Under the Blood-Red Sun is a really good book. It is about Tomi whos family is from Japan. He lives in Hawii at the time of Pearl Harbor and World War 2. It isnt that long too. It is around 240 pages long. If you read and liked Under the Blood-Red Sun you should read A Boy at War. Read it.

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Summary: A Great Book about Friendship and Prejudice
Review: Under the Blood Red Sun by Graham Salisbury is in my opinion an excellent book. The characters are interesting and they have some strong friendships. There is a good conflict between Tomi and Keet and this kept me reading the book to see how it would turn out. I also learned about history. It was very interesting learning history about how the Japanese-Americans in Hawaii were treated in World War II. My favorite character is the main character, Tomi?s, grandpa. I like Grandpa because he?s really funny; he hasn?t adjusted to living in America and does many strange things. One strange thing he does is wash his old Japanese flag in the stream. He also mixes Japanese and English together in a funny way when he speaks.

I am a Japanese girl in fourth grade at an international school in Tokyo. I would recommend this book to fourth to sixth grade students, both boys and girls, especially for kids who like history.

(This review was written by my 4th grade student)

Rating:
Summary: A story of friendship in a life changing experience!
Review: This novel was very well written by Graham Salisbury. One important reason this book is so interesting is Salisbury's use of literary devices. The greatest of these literary devices used are round character, flat character, and symbolism. These three literary devices really bring the story to life.
Character development is extremely important in any novel. Salisbury gave each character in Under the Blood Red Sun the right character to strengthen them in the story. Tomi is classified as a round character. Throughout the story, we became more understanding of Tomi and his complete lifestyle. Papa, on the other hand, is a very important character in the novel but is known as a flat character. Salisbury does not go into detail about him at all until the end when he is taken away.
Symbolism is slightly used in Under the Blood Red Sun. To represent Tomi's family's Japanese pride, they had a picture of the Japan emperor and also a Japanese flag. Even when they are being bombed by the Japanese, Tomi's grandpa continued to symbolize his pride in his native country. Although they still had pride later on, the fact that they had to hide their stuff does not mean they are not symbolizing their devotion.
Graham Salisbury did an excellent job using literary devices in this novel. By his use of these devices, Under the Blood Red Sun was strengthened. Salisbury's character development and symbolism really helped to improve the features of this book.