The Gods Will Sing Our Song by Autumn Krause (publication day September 1, 2026) is Krause’s fourth published novel–I’m definitely checking out her backlist! Krause identifies as a triracial author–she is of Japanese, Mexican, and white heritage, and in The Gods Will Sing Our Song, she fictionalizes some of her family history and adds fantasy elements–her great-grandmother, and her grandfather and his siblings were interned in the Gila River internment camp during World War II, and her grandfather later served in the only all-Japanese regiment in the U.S. Army.
Told in the alternating perspectives of Ren and Violet, both 17 years old, they don’t know each other before arriving at the Manzanar War Relocation Center. Though they are from very different worlds–Violet is planning on going to college, and if she’s able, would love to become an artist–and Ren is something of a delinquent, having spent a night or two in jail, they remain interested in each other despite Ren not believing that someone like Violet could be interested in someone like him.
Krause included fantasy elements–both Ren and Violet have small deity icons passed to them by their fathers, and as he is waiting on the bus to leave, Ren sees a man that seems old but really isn’t. He finds out that Violet is the only other person who sees the man’s true self. It turns out that the man is a god, feeding on the sadness of the camp. There is so much sadness–separation of families, illness, and the uncertainty of being ripped away from their homes, livelihoods, and belongings.
It’s such a well-told story, though of course with sadness and grief and things that should horrify any reasonable person. But we can’t flinch away from acknowledging our factual history (to prevent it from continuing to happen), and a book like this will hopefully make it accessible to teenagers, as it is considered a young adult historical fantasy novel. I highly recommend it, and consider it weight-neutral, with no negative descriptions of body size or shape.
Reading While Fat 