Thorn Among the Roses

By: Steve Alcorn

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Friday, December 5, 1941. In three days, everything Aiko Tanaka knows will change forever.

Fourteen-year-old Aiko is excited about helping her father build his Rose Parade float. As a Nisei—second-generation Japanese American—growing up on Sawtelle in Los Angeles, she's used to navigating two worlds. She paints watercolors of the city she loves, dreams of attending UCLA, and spends her Saturdays riding streetcars with her best friend Louise, exploring everything from Chinatown to the Biltmore Hotel.

But tension is building. Boys throw stones and shout slurs. Her father Hideo, a respected nursery owner and float builder, faces suspicious looks and veiled threats from business competitors. Still, Aiko clings to hope. The Rose Parade is just weeks away. Their magnificent crane float—built with care and precision—will prove that her family belongs here.

Then comes Sunday, December 7, 1941.

When news of Pearl Harbor reaches the float barn, everything stops. Within hours, the atmosphere shifts. Fellow workers who smiled yesterday now avoid eye contact. Within days, neighbors are arrested by the FBI. Within weeks, Aiko watches as her family's livelihood, her brother's job, and their place in the community crumble.

As fear and prejudice spread through Los Angeles, Aiko faces an impossible question: How do you prove your loyalty to a country that suddenly sees you as the enemy? And can a fourteen-year-old girl find the courage to finish building a float for a parade that may not welcome her family?

Based on meticulous historical research, Thorn Among the Roses brings to life a week that changed America forever—through the eyes of a girl caught between her heritage and her home. Includes detailed historical notes about the Rose Parade, Japanese American internment, and Los Angeles in 1941.

Features paintings of 1941 Los Angeles

Perfect for:

• Readers of Number the Stars and Inside Out and Back Again
• WWII historical fiction for middle grade and YA
• Social studies classrooms (Pearl Harbor, civil rights, internment)
• Stories of Japanese American experience
• Art-focused protagonists and visual storytelling
• Los Angeles history and Rose Parade tradition

Historical Topics:
• Pearl Harbor home front impact • Japanese American internment beginning • Los Angeles 1941 streetcar system • Rose Parade float building • Sawtelle Japanese community • Nisei identity and loyalty • FBI arrests of community leaders

Steve Alcorn is a USA Today bestselling author, engineer, and educator. In 1986 he founded Alcorn McBride, the leading maker of technology for theme park attractions worldwide. In 2001 he founded Writing Academy, where for more than 25 years he has helped over 100,000 students structure their novels — both through his own courses and through the online programs of more than 1,500 colleges and universities. He is the author of 27 books spanning fiction, nonfiction, and writing craft, and he narrates many of his own audiobooks.