Ghosts in the Fog

Ghosts in the Fog
By Samantha Seiple
Scholastic, 2011. 221 pgs. Young Adult Nonfiction

After the Japanese army invaded Aleutian Islands in Alaska in 1942, the U.S. Army tried to convince the American public that the invasion hadn't happened. At the same time, they began evacuating the islands, sending the native inhabitants to refugee camps where they lived in miserable conditions, and planned their counterattack to regain the territory.

This book was interesting--the invasion of Alaska during WWII isn't something I remember learning about in my history classes--but it was almost too brief. It was a surface-level treatment that left me wondering about a lot of things. I think the author tried to bring in too many people to the story--there are little snippets about a variety of people, but then the brevity of the book made following up on their stories hard. It's a good introduction to the topic, but most readers will want more information than this book provides (which could be a good thing, if they go on to find other materials to supplement it).

AE