House of the Red Fish (28 page)

GRAHAM SALISBURY
‘s family has lived in the Hawaiian Islands since the early 1800s. He grew up on Oahu and Hawaii and graduated from California State University. He received an MFA from Vermont College of Norwich University, where he was a member of the founding faculty of the MFA program in writing for children. He lives with his family in Portland, Oregon.

Graham Salisbury’s books have garnered many prizes.
Blue Skin of the Sea
won the Bank Street Child Study Association Award and the Oregon Book Award;
Under the Blood-Red Sun
won the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, the Oregon Book Award, Hawaii’s Nene Award, and the California Young Reader Medal;
Shark Bait
won the Oregon Book Award and a
Parents’ Choice
Silver Honor;
Lord of the Deep
won the
Boston Globe–Horn Book
Award for fiction.
Jungle Dogs
was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and
Island Boyz: Stories
was a
Booklist
Editors’ Choice. His most recent book was
Eyes of the Emperor,
an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and an ALA Notable Book.

Graham Salisbury has been a recipient of the John Unterecker Award for Fiction and the PEN/Norma Klein Award.

1. Graham Salisbury starts
House of the Red Fish
with a scene from Tomi’s life before his father was arrested. Why do you think the author does this? What is the difference between the life that Tomi leads now and his life before the arrest?

2. Tomi has a deep sentimental attachment to his father’s boat, the
Taiyo Maru.
Raising it is a tough job, but once he sets his mind on it, he can think of little else. Do you think he’s right to risk so much to save the boat?

3. Tomi knows that if Papa had been home, he would have told Tomi not to fight Keet Wilson or anyone who is hostile to the Japanese and Japanese American citizens of Hawaii. Papa would have said,
“Don’t shame the family. Be helpful, be generous, be accepting”
(page 15). But Tomi sees Grampa Joji, who’s over seventy, as a fighter. What do you think of Papa’s and Grampa Joji’s different attitudes toward fighting? Do you think Tomi fights back against Keet Wilson in an honorable way?

4. Tomi buries his
katana,
or samurai sword, so that it won’t be taken away. Later he discovers that Keet Wilson has stolen it. If your family was threatened, what possession would you try to save? Is Tomi right to sneak into Keet’s room and try to get the katana back? Do you think Tomi’s mother is right in not allowing him to take the katana?

5. Mr. Ramos helps Tomi find out the laws that pertain to raising the boat. Why do you think Mr. Ramos helps Tomi? Was Rico right to tell Mr. Ramos about their project?

6. Mr. Wilson seems to trust Tomi’s mother, but on pages 171 and 172 he says that Tomi’s grandfather should have been left in jail and that Tomi’s family is “an annoyance and, frankly, a worry to everyone around here.” Can you understand Mr. Wilson’s prejudice? Do you think he’s justified in worrying?

7. Keet Wilson tries to sabotage Tomi’s mission to bring up the boat. Why does he do this? Why does he care so much about what Tomi does and disagree with Tomi’s plan for Papa’s boat? Why do you think Keet chooses Tomi to bully?

8. What do you think of the end of the book? Will Tomi’s father be proud of him?

To read Graham Salisbury’s answers
to these questions, visit his Web site:
www.grahamsalisbury.com

Q: What inspired you to write this story? Why does Tomi appeal to you as a protagonist?

A:
Tomi appeals to me most in the context of his family and friends. I love the whole lot of them, how they blend, how they fit together. Tomi himself, however, appeals to me because he’s a fighter. I like that. Maybe I see something in him that I would hope to see in myself, were I in his shoes. I just like his dogged determination and refusal to give in or give up. Elmore Leonard wrote a book called
Valdez Is Coming.
It’s one of my all-time favorite books. Valdez is a man who is relentless in the pursuit of justice. Nothing can stop him, even the risk of death. It is this same pursuit of justice that drives Tomi. Never, never, never give up. I like that.

Q: In two of your other books,
Under the Blood-Red Sun
and
Eyes of the Emperor,
you’ve also written about Japanese Americans living in Hawaii and the prejudice they face during World War II. Why do this era and setting hold such appeal for you as a writer?

A:
The story of the American of Japanese ancestry, in Hawaii and on the mainland, is a powerful one. The story of how one group, especially one so loyal to the American way of life, could be so wrongfully treated tells of some basic fear that lives in the American psyche. We are a good people. We are generous and forgiving. Yet we own some kind of deep-rooted fear that has, at times, ripped the goodness and generosity right out of our hearts. Having grown up in the islands, I know somewhat of the Japanese living there. I know that as a whole they are as good and generous and accepting as
any other decent American. When I look at what our government did to them in World War II, and how they, the JAs, fought to prove their loyalty to that very same government, I am impressed. Actually, I am impressed and fascinated. Would I have had such courage? Would you?

Q: What was the most difficult part of writing this book?

A:
The first draft. First drafts are always the toughest part of any book for me. That’s because I am making something out of nothing. But the one item of writing craft that I know with certainty is this: I can fix it. I love revision, thank heaven. Revision is where I can sit back and live the story a bit, sort of climb into it and explore it on deeper levels. But that first draft is a bear, a grizzly. No, Bigfoot.

Q: What will happen to Tomi and his friends and family next?

A:
I sort of have to wait and see what will happen to them. I have a general idea of what I would like to see happen, but stories have a way of telling themselves once I get into them, no matter how tightly I plot and plan. The characters and events sometimes surprise me, which I love. Surprise is the element of writing that most fascinates me … and keeps me at this rather difficult (and oh so rewarding) occupation.

Q: What do you like best about being a writer?

A:
Just as I stated above: I love the magic that happens when I am working (the surprises that come out of nowhere). Hand in hand with writing surprises is the
absolute thrill of discovering a new story that would be stunning to tell.
Eyes of the Emperor
was one of those thrills, those stories. When I first discovered it (in a three-page essay written by one of the Cat Island men, Raymond Nosaka), it grabbed me and shook me and said You
have to tell this story!
Now, that’s exciting stuff.

Q: Tell us about your writing habits.

A:
I am a morning person. I do my best work before 10 a.m. I get up at 4:45 every weekday. I work best when I am away from my e-mail (which is so much easier than
working!).
So before I go to my studio (a 900-square-foot cabana built on a pier out over a lake), I go to any one of several favorite coffee shops and work there. Sometimes I write first drafts in longhand and revise on my Mac. Sometimes I do it all on my laptop. I work in coffee shops because I like the white noise of other people bustling about. I try my best to write every day except weekends, which I reserve for my family. Discipline is a key element. I am not a genius. I am a trudger. I make it happen. There is no other way.

Q: Do you eat snacks while you write?

A:
No. I get too deep down into my imagination to think about snacks (but I do drink one cup of coffee a day— a twelve-ounce Americano with a tad of nonfat milk stirred in). When I surface, I’m usually famished and ready to hit the gym. I eat lunch after the gym, and sometimes in the hot months get a Jamba Juice (Orange Dream Machine) or iced green tea as I head back to work.

Q: Do you listen to music while writing?

A:
Never—if I’m writing at my cabana. I may listen to very soft, very calm instrumental music while revising, but never when involved in a first draft. The one exception to this took place when I was writing the first draft of a short story called “Angel-Baby,” when I listened to Houston Person’s luxurious rendering of “But Beautiful” (on his CD called
My Romance).
You will see why if you read that story (it’s in my short story collection
Island Boyz).
However, when I write in coffee shops, there is always music. White noise to me. After I have finished a book and am celebrating, I crank the radio in my car and listen to something that rocks!

Q: How much research do you have to do before writing a book? Where do you do it?

A:
It all depends on the project. For the war books, research is key. I want my facts to be as accurate as possible. I do my best research in the same place I do my best writing—in coffee shops, except when I need to ply the Net (I don’t do coffee shop hot spots, because I want to keep the Net out of that workspace). If I need to search the Internet, I go to my cabana and work there. I also have access to a research professional when the research demands an expertise I don’t have. She lives in Idaho and is wonderful. But the best kind of research I can do (if possible) is primary research, where I interview people who were actually present during whatever piece of history I am writing about.
That
is a thrill!

Q: Do you ever get writer’s block?

A:
I get lazy, I get stuck, I dink around—but I never get writer’s block. Writer’s block to me is one thing and one thing only: procrastination. I try to keep moving ahead, even if I hate what I’m producing. You see, I have learned something valuable over my years of writing: whatever drivel I produce, I can make it better. I work hard. Most of the time.

Q: As a writer, what is your greatest fear? Your greatest obstacle?

A:
As a writer I have few fears. However, I do have a good deal of self-doubt. Am I really good enough to continue writing stories of value for young readers? So far, I believe I am (any writer has to have that self-belief to succeed). I guess if I have a fear at all, it would be the fear of losing that confidence. Yeah, that would be it.

Q: How much rewriting and revising do you do?

A:
A lot! Over and over and over until I think it sings. Then I send it to my editor and she sends it back saying, “You can do better.” And she’s always right. I can, and do. God bless good editors, and I have one of the best ever. Revise, revise, revise. It will shower you with sparkling diamonds every time.