My proposal for the back cover of "Thirty Minutes Over Oregon"

By my request, the back covers of both Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman and Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman had only one line:

I wanted to keep that going with Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story.

Though in this case my proposal was two lines, it had a similar effect:

In 1941, the surprise Japanese attack on Hawaii brought America into World War II. 

In 1942, the Japanese pilot Nobuo Fujita brought World War II into America.

But I was vetoed:

art by Melissa Iwai

I love the image and it is a mysterious contrast to the war scene of the cover (which stokes curiosity), but I still visit the alternate universe where my suggestion came to pass.

Stupid war, wise book

My book Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story is the true story of Nobuo Fujita, a Japanese pilot who became the first foreign power to bomb the U.S. mainland during a war. (Next month marks the 80th anniversary of this unprecedented event.)

After the war, he regretted his actions and returned to America to apologize. "What a stupid war we made," he said.

I just discovered a review of the book in Friends Journal (published by the Quakers) that ends on a line that not only humbles but also chills: "What a wise book it has made."

Booze and picture books?

Today, which happens to be three years to the day when Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story was released, I learned that the book was (coincidentally) part of an event held last night at the annual conference of the Virginia Association of Teachers of English.

A wine/chocolate/book pairing.

I'm told passages of the featured books were read while wine was sipped and chocolate nibbled.

Picture books and booze don't normally go together. 

But, of course, this was an adults-only affair. 

I don't know why my book was chosen, but I am honored by its inclusion, especially because it is among such distinguished company (meaning the other authors/illustrators, though I'm sure the wine and chocolate were also great).

A year mistake in “Thirty Minutes Over Oregon”

I found a minor goof midway through my book Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot’s World War II Story (I wish they’d add back page numbers to picture books!).

A sentence reads as follows: “And the residents of Brookings largely forgot about their close call—until 1962.”

It should be 1961. (Nobuo visited in 1962, but the town hatched the idea and sent the invite letter in 1961.)

This will be corrected in future printings.

"Thirty Minutes Over Oregon" illustrator's mom witnessed Pearl Harbor attack

To my surprise, I only now realized that I had not yet shared here a startling behind-the-scenes fact related to Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: the mother of Melissa Iwai, the book's illustrator, was walking the hills of Honolulu on December 7, 1941...and witnessed the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

That infamous attack provoked the also infamous Doolittle Raid in April 1942, which then provoked the lesser-known Lookout Air Raids in September 1942, which are the focus of the book.

I have explained that I requested to work on this book with an illustrator of Japanese descent out of respect for the culture at the center of the story. (I hit the trifecta because Melissa is also super talented and super nice.) 

Also, our collaboration parallels a central theme of the book: reconciliation. Melissa and I never quarreled, and therefore never reconciled, but I mean reconciliation in a broader sense: people of different heritages coming together in harmony.

“Thirty Minutes Over Oregon” draws out art

My college friend/fifth grade teacher Sara Peters told me that Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot’s World War II Story is one of several books in a unit on empathy that she teaches. 

A classroom focus on empathy is alone enough to make my heart soar, but there’s more.

The kids were asked to create an artistic response to one of the books. Some of her students at Miller School in Holliston, MA, were moved in some way by the story of Nobuo Fujita, who bombed the U.S. mainland in 1942, then returned twenty years later…to apologize.  

Here is their lovely work:

It may be that neither girls nor non-white students are among the Thirty Minutes Over Oregon artists. But I’m thrilled at the range of the other books the class could choose from:

• Big Jabe written by Jerdine Nolen, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
• The Crane Girl written by Curtis Manley, illustrated by Lin Wang
• Dona Flor written by Pat Mora, illustrated by Raul Colón
• Mrs. Katz and Tush written by Patricia Polacco
• My Man Blue written by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by Jerome Lagarrigue 
• Shooting at the Stars written and illustrated by John Hendrix
• Smoky Night written by Eve Bunting, illustrated by David Diaz
• Swamp Angel written by Anne Isaacs, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky 
• The Village That Vanished written by Ann Grifalconi, illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Stiff competition. I am humbled to be among them.

Thanks again for sharing, Sara. Empathy is not a given. It must be modeled!

Bob Dole Institute of Politics interview about "Thirty Minutes Over Oregon"

Audrey Coleman, the museum director of the Bob Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas, kindly interviewed me about Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story (on Veterans Day, no less).

The institute promotes public service, civil discourse, and bipartisanship inspired by the legacy of Senator Bob Dole.

Audrey: "Both WWII history and your book's central question about courage, fighting, and unity are the foundation of our mission."

(Sorry for my Zoom face. If that is not

already a term, it should be.)

Thank you again, Audrey!

The daughter of Nobuo Fujita from "Thirty Minutes Over Oregon"

The children of the girls whose story I tell in Fairy Spell: How Two Girls Convinced the World That Fairies Are Real kindly posed with their copy of the book.

Similarly, the daughter of Nobuo Fujita, Yoriko Asakura, and her husband have graciously done so with their copy of Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story.

Novels about the Cottingley fairies and Nobuo Fujita

In 2018, two nonfiction picture books I wrote were published, Fairy Spell: How Two Girls Convinced the World That Fairies Are Real and Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story.

I recently read two novels inspired, respectively, by those two true stories (the actual stories, not my versions of them):

The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor (2017) was inspired by the Cottingley fairies incident, which started in 1917 in Yorkshire, England and maintained an air of wistful intrigue until a new revelation in the 1980s (and, to some, even still). 

The Hummingbird by Stephen P. Kiernan (2015) was inspired by Japanese naval pilot Nobuo Fujita's historic bombing of Oregon in 1942 (and the unexpected and touching relationship that developed after).

These two true stories have almost nothing in common other than the fact that I have written about both (well, and that both feature figures who fly).

Yet interestingly at least to me, the novels echo each other in multiple ways. 

Both alternate between the historical story and a present-day story that has a teased-out connection to it. 

The historical stories-within-a-story are told via similar devices: in Secret, an unpublished memoir; in Hummingbird, an unpublished (and possibly discredited) nonfiction manuscript.

Both take certain liberties with the nonfiction aspects, and must, understandably, include dialogue and thoughts that are imagined, if based on extensive research.

In both, themes from the past (of course) have impact on the main characters in the present.

In both, the main character of the contemporary segments is female, and her struggles involve love.

Of smaller significance, both novels are published by the HarperCollins imprint William Morrow. 

Of no significance, I'm not formally reviewing either here but will say that if you're interested in either real-life component, the corresponding novel is worth reading.

"New York Times" writer Nicholas Kristof and "Thirty Minutes Over Oregon"

In 1997, I saw this obituary in the New York Times:

In 2007, I began to write a picture book on Nobuo Fujita.

In 2014, after around 50 rejections, I sold the manuscript to Clarion (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

In 2018, the book came out.

In 2019, I reached out to the man who wrote that obituary 22 years ago, Nicholas Kristof, by both tweet and email; he replied by both.

I sent him a copy of the book that he helped inspire.

“Booklist” interview features quirky questions

Kathleen McBroom kindly interviewed me for the 9/19 issue of Booklist.

Most of her questions are ones I haven’t gotten before (which I appreciate!):

• In another interview, you referred to some negative feedback you received when you first pitched the idea for Thirty Minutes over Oregon, a story about friendship and forgiveness. What were the objections?
• In your author’s note for Thirty Minutes over Oregon, you end with a question about the Japanese pilot Nobuo Fujita: “He went from fighting to uniting. Which took more courage?” Have you ever gotten any feedback from kids about this, either in letters or during school visits?
• The thing I like best about your books is how you spark inquiry in kids through revealing tiny morsels of information that have been overlooked. How did your interest in these types of forgotten facts begin?
• While we’re talking about research and inquiry, I was struck by something you included in your author’s note for Fairy Spell. You wrote, “Having the internet doesn’t mean you can kick back and think less. On the contrary, it forces you to think more.” Would you care to elaborate on that?
• You are always profoundly respectful of the people in your books. You never say anything really damning about Bob Kane; you stress your belief that Frances and Elsie, the girls from Fairy Spell, had no intent to perpetuate a nationwide hoax; you very effectively explain how well-educated adults fell for the fairy photos ruse; and you portray Nobuo Fujita from Thirty Minutes over Oregon as a truly remorseful person who was willing to apologize for his wartime actions. Why is it important for you to portray these characters so sympathetically to young audiences?
• Your brief bio from Fairy Spell says that “he believes in a number of things that haven’t yet been proven.” I’m not sure if you wrote this or not, but it makes me wonder—with a philosophy like that, might you have any concerns about being taken in by some fantastic claim someday, like your fellow writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who championed the fairy photos?

Thank you, Kathleen and Booklist!

"Thirty Minutes" over Connecticut

The city of Bridgeport, CT runs an annual program called Read Aloud Day; a committee chooses a different book for every elementary grade level and a fleet of volunteers fan out so that someone visits every public elementary classroom in the city on the same day to read to the class. And every class gets a copy of the chosen book. 

In 2008, the book chosen for sixth grade was Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman.

I’m honored to report that the book chosen for sixth grade this year is Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot’s World War II Story. 

Thank you for the honor!

The letter I wrote that will be copied and inserted into every book:

Hello Bridgeport readers on Read Aloud Day 2019!

Don’t like war stories?
Don’t like nonfiction?
Don’t like history?
Don’t bet on it!

This story is a famous first you’ve never heard of. It will surprise you on nearly every page. And it’s ALL TRUE.

It starts on the deck of a submarine and ends deep in a forest. It involves a samurai sword, an unusual catapult, a secret mission, and a funny sandwich. (You’ll see…)

You will be thrilled, you will smile wide, you may get sad. 

Ready for takeoff?

“Thirty Minutes Over Oregon” on 2019 ILA Teachers’ Choices Reading List

The embargo has lifted! 

In March, I learned that Thirty Minutes Over Oregon has been selected for the International Literacy Association 2019 Teachers’ Choices Reading List.

But honorees were asked to keep it under wraps till the announcement was posted on the ILA site.

The distinction is bestowed annually upon new books that teachers, reading specialists, and librarians feel will be of particular interest to readers ages 5-14 and can be used across the curriculum. 

Thank you, ILA, congrats to the other honorees!

Take Your Child to Work Day at the U.S. State Department

I don’t work at the State Department in Washington DC, but I took one of my kids—and my wife—there on Take Your Child to Work Day 2019. Technically, I did work there that day; they kindly asked me to give a presentation at the Ralph Bunche Library. 

The audience: State Department employees and their children. 

They requested that I speak about Thirty Minutes Over Oregon; an employee had seen the New York Times review and suggested reaching out to me. The State Department invites authors and others to speak, but this was the first time they’ve done it for TYCTWD.

An unexpected opportunity. A lovely turnout. An honor indeed. Thank you again!

Texas Library Association Conference 2019

From 4/15-18/19, I was an honored guest and Featured Speaker at the legendary Texas Library Association Conference, this year held in Austin.

I was invited by the conference itself and not sent by one of my publishers, which means I was scheduled to speak but not scheduled to sign—and I didn’t realize this till a day after I got there. Therefore, it was too late to slot me in to sign books, which disappointed a number of attendees (not to mention myself). No matter—they can still get the books!

The night before the festivities began, I explored the neighborhood around my hotel, where I found three things that made me feel at home: a bar named for the chupacabra (a southern U.S./Central America thing), a bar named for bats (an Austin thing), and a donut shop—in particular, a grape-flavored donut. You rarely see grape desserts and never have I ever seen a grape donut.

Special points for naming the donut after a semi-forgotten Hanna-Barbera character.

On 4/15, strong winds stranded a number of guests in their respective airports/hometowns, one of whom was my pal Tom Angleberger. At 8:45 pm, I was recruited to pinch hit for Tom in an author vs. author game show starting at 9 p.m. hosted by a puppet. (You read that right. Again, this conference is legendary.) 

My team consisted of Chris Barton, Jo Whittemore, Andrew Smith, Stacy McAnulty, and myself. We competed against Jennifer Ziegler, Lesa Cline-Ransome, Carmen Oliver, Shelley Johannes, and Jeff Anderson. 

The three-part challenge started with Pictionary, for which I had to draw as many idioms as my team could guess in two minutes, followed by story-in-round, concluding with (hard!) literary trivia. Trivia is usually one of my things but almost all of these questions stumped me. (Who knew Neil Gaiman’s first book was about Duran Duran? Well, someone on the other team…)

We did win, but it was so close.

On 4/17 at 8:30 am (which seemed early to me but doesn’t faze librarians), I gave the first of my two featured talks, this one on Bill Finger. My second was scheduled for the next day, at 10:30 am, which was close to the end of the conference (and after the exhibit hall would be closed), so I feared few would show up. However, I had at least double the audience for a talk on Thirty Minutes Over Oregon; my angle to discuss the book was empathy, and that also described the crowd. They were very kind to me and my story.

At that talk, a woman who had attended my talk the day before gifted me a bat-themed thank you for an enjoyable presentation.

One night, with Tom Angleberger (who was able to fly in earlier that day), I visited one of the city’s bridges from which thousands of bats famously emerge nightly to the thrill of hundreds of onlookers.

Except that night, they didn’t. (Well, four did.)

I was under the impression that this happened without fail soon after sunset every evening, and the large crowd gathered there gave me no reason to think otherwise. 

Alas, now I have to try again, and I don’t know when I will be back. 

The other disappointment of TLA also had to do with something that flies. As I’ve been doing since Nerd Camp last summer, I hid several fairies on site. (Rather they hid themselves.) Whoever found one and tweeted me a photo of it would win a copy of Fairy Spell. 

But no one did.

I may be disappointed but I am not surprised. 

Fairies are notoriously hide to find. And as Frances says in the book (i.e. in life), maybe it's too hot for them here...

“Thirty Minutes Over Oregon” and “Fairy Spell” on Bank Street best of 2019 list

I’m honored to report that both of my 2018 books made the Bank Street College of Education list of the Best Children’s Books of the Year (ages 9-12).

Thank you times two!

"Thirty Minutes Over Oregon" and "Fairy Spell" on CCBC Choices 2019 list

The Cooperative Children's Book Center of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison annually compiles a list of their most recommended titles of the year; it's called CCBC Choices.

For 2018, the list comprises 258 books, two of which happen to be mine: Fairy Spell and Thirty Minutes Over Oregon.

Thank you, CCBC, and congrats to all others on the list!