HOME OF THE BRAVE is Allen Say’s abstract way to tell about the Japanese internment camps of World War II America.  Beginning with a man kayaking, Say leads readers to a surreal place where the man finds children wearing tags on their coats.  He follows them through a dust storm to the empty building of the camp.  There he finds a tag with his name on it.  When he rushes outside, he sees a large group of children who all have tags chanting, “Take us home!”  When the man makes his way back to his kayak, he symbolically throws the nametags into the air and they become a flock of birds.

Say has created haunting images to go with his words.  The children the man meets seem very real, down to their expressions and the girl’s shirt collar sticking out over the coat collar.  The camp buildings seem small but frightening with the imposing backdrop of the dark mountains.  When the group of children is shown, they are eerie, pictures with their mouths open in their chant.  Although all of their skin colors are almost exactly the same, their faces show variation.  The shapes of eyes and noses differ from child to child, and the haircuts, while very similar, are different in subtle ways.  The scene of the children running and the spotlights shining from the watchtower is chilling, and the reader can almost feel the terror.

Say succeeds in showing an emotional response to the Japanese internment of World War II.  His eerie art and non-linear storytelling add to the surrealism of the book.  This might be a disadvantage, however, as it makes it seem like this was something that is too strange to have really happened.  When this book is shared with a class, it may be a good idea to pair it with a more fact-based book as a compliment.