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Praise for Two Faces

“Two Faces is about two ten-year olds, Nina and Gordon. Gordon, being of Japanese ancestry, is forced to leave to an internment camp in Colorado during the battle of Pearl Harbor between the United States and Japan.

“Gordon's family and other Japanese people were posed as a threat to Americans because of their race. Gordon's story shows the humiliation he feels when he's identified as the enemy.

“Nina and her mother are interrupted by the ongoing war and have to travel many trains to be near her father during his training. Once he travels to England, she goes to live with her grandparents.

“With only communication by letter, Nina and Gordon keep in touch and describe their life away from each other.

“This amazing story is about friendship and the complications of racism. Each life is phenomenally affected by the difference of their races, but their friendship stays powerful throughout the war.”

—Sophie Schopieray, Fifth Grade Teacher, Michigan Schools

“5.0 out of 5 stars American children during World War II

“Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2024

“To the authors as children in the San Joaquin Valley of California, World War II brought abrupt changes. Gordon Hideaki Nagai’s family, who was of Japanese descent, was confined to an internment camp in Colorado. Nina Wolpe’s father enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was stationed in England. Nina and Gordon were close school friends who exchanged letters throughout the war to describe their new communities and their personal experiences, feelings, hopes, and ambitions. Their friendship was critical as they encouraged each other and shared their determination to set their lives right after the war.

“The book gives readers a child’s perspective that is seldom available and yet essential to understand the social impact of World War II in the US. We live with that still.”

—Dorothy Brown Soper

“Two Faces weaves together two different wartime experiences through letters and friendship, demonstrating the devastating effects of war. This novel is a great way to introduce yourself to a period of time that isn't talked about much. Two Faces should be on every 5th grade reading list so that a new generation can know our past and work to not repeat it.

“Gordon Hideaki Nagai is my father. Over the years, I've heard him speak about his time in the Japanese Internment Camps to schools and continuing educational settings. Each time I hear him speak, I feel the weight of his past. I imagine what his parents felt as they tried to keep family life as normal as possible, while living the impossible. I grew up keenly aware of this part of U.S. history, but so many people I talk with never learned about this history in school.

“I recognize the many real-life experiences my father has woven into this story, and I am so proud to see his words printed. It also touches my heart to see my father's full name in print for this book. He has been using his full name for years now, but there was a time, right after the war, when he didn't want to use his middle name because it was too "Japanese-y."

“I also note that my uncle, born in the camps, was the only sibling to be given an American middle name. So, yes, I am proud to see my father's full name on this amazing piece of work. Love you, Dad.”

—Diana Nagai

“Gordon Nagai and Nina Wolpe offer us their deeply felt story of something infinitely worth remembering: the lifesaving power of friendship and kindness.

“From their lived experience of how war can wreak havoc on lives even far away, to the havoc present in our world today, may we all take that to heart.”

—Lynne Rae Perkins, children’s author, and winner of the 2016 John Newbery Medal

“Highly recommended. I am not a big reader but found this story very difficult to put down. Highly recommended for middle school to elders.

“Thank you so much for a wonderful insight beyond the bombing of Pearl Harbor and into the lives of real people, their families, friends and their faith and endurance.

“BRAVO!!!!”

—Kathy Stoddard

“This is a touching story about true friendship, loving family, and the bravery of two children impacted by war and hardship. It is poignant, always compelling, and never without wit and the refreshing authenticity of children.

“The authors bring social and emotional intelligence to their rich account of a regrettable time in our history.

“The book is both historically significant and personally satisfying to read. I couldn’t put it down.”

—Janet B. Reigel, Psy.D.

“The two authors offer a child's eye-view of two sides of the effect WWII had on America's civilians: of a young girl whose father went to war, and her young friend, a Japanese American boy, whose family was imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp. They both recount their experiences as well as letters shared between them. It's a brilliant idea, and very well executed. Highly recommended for grade-school and middle-school readers, as well as those older.

“It's fact-based fiction instead of non-fiction because they made themselves older than they actually were to be better able to convey the experiences they and their families went through.

“This book should be in every elementary and middle-school library.”

—Randall C. Luce

“Tragedy. Grief. Gordon Nagai and Nina Wolpe offer a raw, firsthand glimpse into the casualties of war and violence in Two Faces. They show how the pain leaves a permanent scar. We are all victims. Can humanity do better?”

—Robert Watada, Nisei-U.S. citizen Born 1939, Platteville, CO; family moved to Ft. Lupton, CO 1942–1945

“This book is great. Detailing the struggles of what people with Japanese ancestry went through after the attack on Pearl Harbor, it is both heartwarming and serious. I couldn’t put it down!”

—Eliana, sixth grader, Traverse City, Michigan

“Two Faces is a refreshing perspective on how war divides not only on the battlefield but on the home front. After the bombing at Pearl Harbor, the friendship of two children is threatened by a fence built of fear—every nail hammered home by a world of distrust in which they are caught. Their refusal to acquiesce to the status quo of hate and suspicion serves as a testament to the power of the human spirit. A highly recommended read.”

—Bob Welch, author of Saving My Enemy: How Two WWII Soldiers Fought Against Each Other and Later Forged a Friendship That Saved Their Lives

“As an ex-internee I have selective vivid memories of the camp experience when I was just eight. Once I started to read Gordon’s and Nina’s story, it brought back so many memories that I could not put it down. Yes, emotional to say the least—Gordon and Nina filled in a lot of lapses in my memory, and some came flooding back. I completely blocked out the ride to camp, and Gordon’s narrative gave me a glimpse of what could have been. 

“The relationship of Gordon and Nina is thoughtfully written, and I especially like the dialog through their letters, it was as close as you can get to the age portrayed, and I related to many of their experiences. What Gordon had with a Nisei mother was significant, my mother and father were both Issei unable to communicate in English with the empathy that I needed at the time. I did not understand their simple Japanese emotional words so there were many gaps in our ability to share. All in all, a beautifully written book for any age. Young people will be able to relate to the plight of Nina and Gordon.”

—Yukio Shimomura, Manzanar Internment Camp, 1942–1945

“Gordon Nagai’s and Nina Wolpe’s coming-of-age memoir-tale shines a spotlight on a particularly dark and shameful period of American history. It shows how support and love from close friends and family allow us to access strength within ourselves that we might otherwise never know we possess.

“As a program manager at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, I had the good fortune to hear and learn from Gordon’s presentation about the internment of his family at Camp Amache, one of many he’s made in scores of communities and schools. What strikes me most deeply in this inspiring new book is the power of the human spirit to overcome, reminding us that we humans are more alike than we are different—a lesson that our society needs to hear, now more than ever.”

 —Todd Gauthier, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Program Manager, University of Oregon

“Two Faces by Nina Wolpe and Gordon Hideaki Nagai offers a unique perspective and look at a friendship that stood the tests no child should have to face. Set in the time of World War II, we learn about the heart-wrenching experience of Gordon’s family being taken without cause from their home and imprisoned in a Japanese Internment camp, while Nina’s letters weave together her own journey as her father heads off to war.

“As a third-grade teacher and parent, it is rare to find texts about such sensitive topics told in a way that allows young readers to engage, connect and learn. Two Faces does just that. Written with interwoven letters between Nina and Gordon, readers young and old are pulled into the true story of these two friends, a friendship that required grit, perseverance, faith and trust. during a time of isolation and loneliness. The way the authors have collectively built the story around their own experience is touching, informative and meaningful.

“The photographs and resources in the appendix also provide a wonderful resource too giving young readers a way to connect to the history that unfolded over 80 years ago. I appreciate the vulnerability of Nina’s and Gordon’s writing and the gift this story will be for readers of all ages in the years to come.”

—Christine Gough, third-grade teacher, Letitia Carson Elementary School, Corvallis, Oregon

“As Americans, we have experienced obstacles and painful moments since we began as a hopeful new nation 250 years ago. The authors of Two Faces show us how to work together in healing and in joy. As an educator I can’t think of a better culturally responsive way to teach students about our forced imprisonment of American citizens and its impact on our society during World War II.”

—Sarah Campbell, sixth-grade teacher, Meadow View Middle School, Eugene, Oregon

“For three long years, American citizens of Japanese descent suffered an unthinkable fate at internment camps. Two Faces is the story of an ugly chapter in American history, told with the charm and clarity of two youngsters who lived through it. Their story will inspire rich conversations among all who have the good fortune of reading their account. This book is an opportunity for young readers to learn from the past, and to prevent history from repeating itself.”

—Sally Krueger, fifth-grade teacher, Edgewood Community Elementary School, Eugene, Oregon

“Against the backdrop of one of this nation’s greatest Civil Rights violations emerges a story of love, friendship, patience, patriotism, sacrifice and pure childhood innocence… along with a painful, too-soon, coming of age. The book is powerfully written, yet never preachy, and remains wholly authentic throughout to both its young adolescent viewpoint and the misgivings, mischief and misadventures of growing up. Some of Gordon’s lighter memories strongly reminded me of my own kids’ experiences in suburban Connecticut in the 1960s… proving that, given half a chance, ‘kids will be kids’ anywhere. Even behind the barbed wire of a prison camp. And Nina’s insights concerning social justice as well as her beloved Daddy’s going off to lead a whole new life while leaving her and her mother to pick up the pieces of his inability to cope with war and its aftermath are absolutely stunning.”

—Olivia Taylor-Young, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, University of Oregon, creative writing facilitator

“Authors Nina Wolpe and Gordon Nagai have recreated the times when America responded to the surprise bombing of the Pearl Harbor naval base. As a boy, Gordon Nagai lived, together with his family, in a grim camp observed by armed guards and surrounded by barbed wire fences. Throughout his family’s incarceration his schoolmate and friend Nina’s letters were a hopeful and assuring touchstone. The pages about life in the camp almost shatter as you turn them, yet it is a hopeful memoir. Wolpe’s and Nagai’s deftly recorded account proves there is always hope for another doorway to open. Precious!”

—Bill Sarnoff, World War II Navy radioman, U.S.S. Elizabeth C. Stanton

“Far too often, history is written from documents evidencing the actions of governments, NGOs, or some other institutional entity. The decisions of people driving these institutions run the gamut from good to bad. The historical record also shows the uglier side of the human endeavor: the slaughter of populations due to their religious beliefs, the genocide of native populations, the incarceration of citizens based on their race, etc.  Nazis kept detailed records of their slaughter of Jews. The Bureau of Indian Affairs documented the war on Native Americans.

“At the beginning of WWII, thousands of Japanese American citizens were herded into prison camps based on fear and unsubstantiated claims of ubiquitous treason. This federal action was officially known as the Japanese Evacuation and Internment. We know much about these activities from the records of the War Relocation Authority (WRA), who was responsible for the arrest and incarceration of grandparents, parents, and children. The WRA were charged with the forced sale of their personal property: farms, tractors, homes, cars, etc. They moved families living primarily on the West Coast to far-away, out-of-sight locations under heavily armed guard to remain until the end of the War.

“Historians know from government records what family owned a farm in the California central valley, who were arrested, and where they were incarcerated at a specific internment camp.  The archives tell the story from the perspective of the oppressor, not the experiences of the victims. Brecht, in his poem ‘A Worker Reads History,’ laments these truths: history is too often written based on narratives from those in charge. We still know little from the Internee perspective. How did they cope emotionally with sudden incarceration; how did they live during those days of imprisonment; how did they put their lives back financially after the War. Oral histories exist but they were captured decades too late for precise recall or the adult generation had already passed.

“Nina Wolpe and Gordon Nagai were close school friends when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, a friendship they maintained throughout the war and thereafter. They have produced a unique book of personal narrative around this historical event. Their own memoirs about the war and its impact on their personal lives intertwine with their frequent letters back and forth. It is a highly engaging and uplifting work about a cross-racial friendship at a time of global conflict when such friendships were frowned upon and even prohibited. Gordon Nagai’s narrative provides especially substantive and unique details about internment life, much of which has never been told. This engaging story fills a deep gap in the books written about this dark chapter in American history.”

 —David de Lorenzo, Director, Special Collections, University of Oregon