As a 14-year-old growing up in California, Steven Katz didn't feel like he fit in until he found the right friends: Suki, Ollie, and Nick. His small town was split between the haves and the have-nots, the farm owners and the farmworkers, though his school was a diverse melting pot. But prejudices in 1941 ran deep, and Steven didn't always receive a positive reaction to the news that one of his best friends, Suki, was Japanese. When the four boys hike down a nearby mountain after a weekend camping trip, they arrive in a hometown abuzz with the news of Pearl Harbor. They quickly realize how precious that trip now feels in a bewildering world, and know that the attack has changed their future. Hyde (Seven Perfect Things, 2021) dives deep into the cruelty and compassion of small-town life in the 1940s, America's shameful establishment of Japanese internment camps, and the immense collective and individual bravery of all four boys. Fans of Homer H. Hickham Jr.'s Rocket Boys (1998), Andrew J. Graff's Raft of Stars (2021), and Hyde's substantial backlist will savor this heart-opening and meticulously researched coming-of-age tale.