Review
"Saffron Street: Island Danger is an engaging mystery. Five enterprising detectives dive deep into O'ahu's dangerous caves for clues to their case. It's also a deep dive into the bombing of Pearl Harbor and what happened to Japanese Americans after the attack. I endorse this historical fiction book and say mahalo, Sherrill, for crafting a young Japanese-American boy's important story from 1941, until the war's end." --DORINDA MAKANAONALANI NICHOLSON, award-winning author of Pearl Harbor Child: A Child's Eyewitness View--From Attack to Peace
"History, mystery, danger, and intrigue are woven into the Botanic Hill detectives' latest case. This time, Joseph surrounds her four young detectives in the beauty of Hawai'i where they discover clues, connections to the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the subsequent treatment of Japanese Americans. Young readers will find Island Danger an engaging and entertaining historical mystery." --KRISTINA SIPE, 5th grade teacher, St. Vincent de Paul School, San Diego, California
"I really enjoyed following the four brave detectives on their tropical adventure as they solved this mystery and discovered hidden things. Throughout this book, you'll see all the twists and turns that make you want to keep reading and not put the book down!" --SOPHIE P., 6th grader, San Diego, California
"Rich with intriguing tales of a time in history that can never be forgotten, this fast-paced story follows the Botanic Hill teen detectives as they travel to Hawai'i on the trail of a pearl necklace that's been missing for decades. Like me, kids will be drawn in by the intricacies of a mystery that send the pals on one island adventure after another." --LAURA SEGAL STEGMAN, author of Summer of L.U.C.K.
"An exciting, fun mystery readers will love. Set on O'ahu, the story is rich with the history of Pearl Harbor's bombing and the ensuing internment of Japanese Americans; Hawaiian, Japanese, and Tahitian cultures; and, descriptive, unique vocabulary and clues. Where is the Tahitian black pearl necklace? A must read to find out!" --BARBARA RASMUSSEN, retired 4th/5th grade teacher, San Diego, California
"For readers who like to learn while solving a mystery, this book is chock-full of information about Hawai'i, Pearl Harbor, the start of WWII, and Japanese-Americans' internments. From the high-level surfing competitions to tracking a pearl thief and a kidnapper, the detectives tackle complex problems while learning about myth and reality. Students will love sharing this book with their friends." --MAGGIE LYNCH, author of The Forest People YA Fantasy series
From the Author
Beyond being born on December 7, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, I have long been intrigued by the bombing on O'ahu in 1941. Japanese Americans and people of Japanese ancestry in the United States were forced into internment camps for years only because they resembled those who had bombed Pearl Harbor's naval base. Their everyday lives were destroyed, and their Constitutional rights were trampled. Prejudice, discrimination, war hysteria, and a failure of leadership aided those catastrophes. I wrote Saffron Street: Island Danger to show young readers the importance of anti-racism and that acceptance of others can help make all of us kinder, more understanding human beings with broader worldviews. If democracy is to flourish for all Americans, that terrible time in history must be remembered by each new generation so it never repeats itself.
From the Inside Flap
In this, Book 4 of my series, the fictional Japanese-American character of Itsuki Yamada is based on two real people whose lives were changed forever on December 7, 1941. Four-year-old Itsuki, who witnessed the bombing of Pearl Harbor from his home on the Pearl City Peninsula, was inspired by author and speaker Dorinda Makanaonalani Nicholson as she vividly described what she witnessed from her front porch as a six-year-old that frightening December day and the days following in her invaluable, detailed book Pearl Harbor Child: A Child's Eyewitness View--From Attack to Peace (1993; revised 2008).
The portion of Itsuki's story beginning with his family's forced internment in two camps and their challenges to reclaim dignity and meaning almost four years later was inspired by author, actor, and social activist George Takei. He courageously described his childhood journey inside two of the camps, including three years in Arkansas's Rohwer Internment Camp, and the many years following his release in his essential, stunning graphic novel They Called Us Enemy (2019).
Thank you, Ms. Nicholson and Mr. Takei.
From the Back Cover
Our four thirteen-year-old Botanic Hill detectives are hired by their neighbor, the elderly Mr. Itsuki Yamada, to go to Hawai'i and find his family's long-lost Tahitian black pearl necklace that went missing in 1941. This current-day mystery is wrapped around the bombing of Pearl Harbor and Japanese Americans unjustly sent to internment camps when the United States officially entered WWII. Can the squad make sense of two kidnappings, an island cult, and some shady suspects in order to recover the necklace? Come join the detectives and find out!
About the Author
Bestselling, multiple award-winning author Sherrill Joseph will be forever inspired by her beautiful students in the San Diego public schools where she taught for thirty-five years. Upon retiring in 2013, she became a published children's author of the Botanic Hill Detectives Mysteries series.
She has peopled and themed her series for ages 9-14 with characters after her own responsible, role-model students, all proudly possessing various abilities, disabilities, races, cultures, and interests. She strongly believes that kids need to find themselves and others unlike themselves in books if each child is to become an accepting, anti-racist world citizen with a respectful, broad worldview.
Sherrill is a proud member of SCBWI, the Authors Guild, Blackbird Writers, and the Independent Book Publishers Association. Please watch for many more mysteries with a twist of history starring the Botanic Hill detectives!
