Incommunicado

(Hardback)

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Description

Just about everyone is incommunicado in the small, sleepy Oregon coastal town of Sea Park during the winter of 1941. That is, until Pearl Harbor is attacked. Then Sea Park springs to patriotic life. But is Ruby Opal Pearl (aka Jewels) Stokes the only person to see whats really happening here Tommy Kaye, the one person in her life who has provided security, shelter, and a smidgeon of respectand who owns the biggest resort on the coastis now the cause of the towns rage. Tommys Japanese ancestry makes him the prime target of an angry mob, not to mention hes also rich, has a shady past (which includes Jewelss eccentric mother), and everyone in town owes him money.
As the towns patriotism blossoms into paranoia and turns violent, Jewels has to do something to protect Tommy from internment (or worse), even if that something is going up against the town and the government, not to mention the FBI. Thus begins a twelve-year-old girls war within a war.

Reviews

"The town's rage against Mr. Kaye feels achingly real and darkens the mood, like the blackout cloths required on all windows. Despite her affection for him, even Jewels at times can't help but wonder if he's the enemy. She's a conflicted and complex character, imbued with unending, infectious spunk. . . . Readers will respond to one girl's determination to do what's right during a dark time." Kirkus Reviews

"In Randall Platt's able hands, young Jewels comes to life as a courageous and compassionate girl, willing to stand up for what she believes in and protect a local American of Japanese ancestry from an angry mob in their Oregon town - and from internment by the U.S. government during the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. With vibrant dialogue and strong characters that leap off the page, Incommunicado offers a fresh, direct and unflinching look at rippling effects of a distant war on the people who live at home." Anjali Banerjee, author of Haunting Jasmine and Enchanting Lily

Part history and part mystery, Incommunicado has a feisty heroine worth cheering for. Peg Kehret, author of Animals Welcome and Dangerous Deception

"Through the clear eyes and no-nonsense voice of scrappy twelve-year-old Jewels Stokes, Randall Platt gives us a welcome take on World War II in a home front setting rarely explored, a coastal town in the Pacific Northwest where residents have the distinction of fearing the sight of invading soldiers on the beaches every time they lift the corner of their blackout curtains. Through Jewelsa character I fell in love with from the very first pagesPlatt makes the tension palpable, and offers thoughtful insight on our countrys immediate turn against Japanese-Americans in the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. With serious issues deftly interwoven, Incommunicadois, above all, a crackling yarn, with plot twists and action scenes so vivid, I felt I was already watching the thrilling movie version!" Linda Crew, author of Children of the River
"The town's rage against Mr. Kaye feels achingly real and darkens the mood, like the blackout cloths required on all windows. Despite her affection for him, even Jewels at times can't help but wonder if he's the enemy. She's a conflicted and complex character, imbued with unending, infectious spunk. . . . Readers will respond to one girl's determination to do what's right during a dark time." Kirkus Reviews

"In Randall Platt's able hands, young Jewels comes to life as a courageous and compassionate girl, willing to stand up for what she believes in and protect a local American of Japanese ancestry from an angry mob in their Oregon town - and from internment by the U.S. government during the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. With vibrant dialogue and strong characters that leap off the page, Incommunicado offers a fresh, direct and unflinching look at rippling effects of a distant war on the people who live at home." Anjali Banerjee, author of Haunting Jasmine and Enchanting Lily

Part history and part mystery, Incommunicado has a feisty heroine worth cheering for. Peg Kehret, author of Animals Welcome and Dangerous Deception

"Through the clear eyes and no-nonsense voice of scrappy twelve-year-old Jewels Stokes, Randall Platt gives us a welcome take on World War II in a home front setting rarely explored, a coastal town in the Pacific Northwest where residents have the distinction of fearing the sight of invading soldiers on the beaches every time they lift the corner of their blackout curtains. Through Jewelsa character I fell in love with from the very first pagesPlatt makes the tension palpable, and offers thoughtful insight on our countrys immediate turn against Japanese-Americans in the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. With serious issues deftly interwoven, Incommunicadois, above all, a crackling yarn, with plot twists and action scenes so vivid, I felt I was already watching the thrilling movie version!" Linda Crew, author of Children of the River

Author Bio

Randall Platt writes fiction for adults, young adults, those who don't own up to being either. Platt has been a full-time writer for more than twenty-five years. Her young adult fiction has twice been awarded the Willa Cather Literary Award, has been awarded the Will Rogers Medallion, has won the Keystone State Reading Award, and has received honorable mentions for the Washington State Book Award and the PEN Center USA Literary Award. She lives near Seattle, Washington.