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MISSING IN ACTION by Dean Hughes

MISSING IN ACTION

by Dean Hughes

Pub Date: March 9th, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4169-1502-7
Publisher: Atheneum

Jay’s dad has been declared Missing in Action in the Pacific during World War II, so he and his mom have moved from Salt Lake City to small-town Utah, where his mother’s family lives. Life there is unsettling, especially when his mother’s men friends appear. Jay finds new buddy Gordy’s derogatory references to his partial Navajo heritage upsetting but stays silent so he can play baseball. His grandfather’s status as an elder of the Mormon church helps, but it isn’t until he works on the farm with Ken, a release worker from a Japanese internment camp, that Jay begins to see the bigger picture of what matters and what doesn’t. Many forms of prejudice appear in the narrative, with thoughtlessness and injustice intertwined. Navajo spiritual elements combine with Jay’s Mormon faith in a delicate balancing act. Hughes manages to pull it all together for an ending that is touching and somewhat realistic. The plot serves the theme well, as events in Jay’s life are illustrated by multiple instances of bias. Subtle and engaging. (Historical fiction. 8-12)