--- description: Find out why 'We Are Not Free' by Traci Chee is on TIME's list of best YA books of all time. title: 'We Are Not Free' Is on TIME’s List of the 100 Best YA Books image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65e30718e7808a28/698a1be2e76ad2f2fe6391f9/we-are-not-free-best-Ya-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Aug 11, 2021 # We Are Not Free by Traci Chee by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Moving between the voices of 14 Japanese American teenagers during World War II, _We Are Not Free_, a 2020 National Book Award finalist, is a haunting portrait of survival and strength. The chapters vary in style—one particularly stunning account is told in verse—but all flow together to showcase the bonds of a friend group from San Francisco. Together they navigate the turbulence and disruption caused by the [imprisonment of Japanese Americans in the 1940s](https://time.com/5314955/separation-families-japanese-internment-camps/ "undefined"). The characters’ voices are distinct—the crushing destruction of their lives, that comes in waves big and small, is specific to each—but all are written with urgency and feeling. Traci Chee’s gutting narrative, also a Michael L. Printz Honor recipient, is unafraid in its mission to explore racial trauma, and does so in engrossing prose. —_Annabel Gutterman_ **Buy Now**: _We Are Not Free_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780358131434 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/035813143X/ref=as%5Fli%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=035813143X&linkCode=as2&tag=time-books-20&linkId=05b460042b3fafb707e02c575a87a01f "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-ya-books/6084724/we-are-not-free/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-ya-books/6084724/we-are-not-free/"},"headline":"We Are Not Free","datePublished":"2021-08-11T11:34:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:52:12.260Z","description":"Find out why 'We Are Not Free' by Traci Chee is on TIME's list of best YA books of all time.","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-ya-books/6084724/we-are-not-free/","keywords":["Books","Lists","best YA books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65e30718e7808a28/698a1be2e76ad2f2fe6391f9/we-are-not-free-best-Ya-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65e30718e7808a28/698a1be2e76ad2f2fe6391f9/we-are-not-free-best-Ya-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-ya-books/6084724/we-are-not-free/","name":"We Are Not Free"}}]}] ```