In this sequel to 1998’s War of the Eagles, prolific novelist Eric Walters successfully combines history lesson, adventure story, and social commentary on one of the most shameful periods in Canadian history.

The novel tells the story of Tadashi Fukushima, a 14-year-old who, along with his family, is interned by the Canadian government following the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Caged Eagles picks up where War of the Eagles concluded, with Tadashi and his village being forced into their fishing boats and escorted by the RCMP to Vancouver. In Vancouver, they join thousands of Japanese Canadians being held at Hastings Park, where they sleep in former cattle stalls and choke down the camp’s substandard Western-only food. At the camp, Tadashi is quickly befriended by street-smart Sam, with whom he has many misadventures. The relationship between the boys makes for exciting fiction, though the most adventurous episodes of the novel ring the least true historically. While it is unlikely, for example, that Tadashi and several men could sneak out of the camp and drive 30 miles to sink their confiscated fishing boats before the government could sell them, it is a satisfying fantasy.

Caged Eagles, by necessity, focuses on fewer characters and events than War of the Eagles (winner of the Ruth Schwartz Children’s Book Award) but is a much more sophisticated and compelling read. Walters spells out the issues and attitudes behind the internment without simplifying them or turning pedantic. Because his characters are emotionally compelling, the injustices done to them speak for themselves. This text reaches an older audience – readers 12 and up – than the few existing novels on this topic and therefore earns a place in both history and English classrooms.