This Light Between Us: A Novel of World War II

This Light Between Us (2019) is an epistolary young adult novel in the historical fiction genre and is written by Japanese American author Andrew Fukuda, who is best known for his acclaimed trilogy, The Hunt. In This Light Between Us, Fukuda tells the story of Alex Maki, a Japanese American boy from Bainbridge Island, Washington, and his pen pal, Charlie Lévy, a Jewish girl from Paris, France. The two experience the persecution inflicted upon their respective communities before and during World War II, and they develop a close bond through their letters. This bond transcends time and space, and Fukuda even uses a touch of magical realism to allow this sweeping narrative to span years, distance, and the social conditions that separate them. Receiving positive critical acclaim, This Light Between Us won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and has also been listed as an ALSC Notable Children’s Book and a Children’s Book Council selection for the Notable Social Studies List.

This guide references the 2019 TOR Teen paperback edition.

Content Warning: This guide discusses wartime violence and death, depictions of genocide, and racial slurs in a historical

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