Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

• Genre: Fiction; historical
• Originally Published: 2009
• Reading Level/Interest: College/Adult
• Structure/Length: 52 chapters; approx. 301 pages; approx. 10 hours, 52 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: The story traces the relationship between 12-year-old Henry Lee, a Chinese American boy living in Seattle in 1942 in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, and a Japanese girl named Keiko with whom Henry develops a profound and complex relationship that spans decades.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Racism and discrimination; internment

Jamie Ford, Author

• Bio: Born in 1968 in California; lives in Montana with his wife; the great-grandson of a Nevada mining pioneer who emigrated from China in 1865; has written in several genres, including middle-grade horror and dystopian; his novel Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet has been optioned both for film and for a stage musical in NYC
• Other Works: Songs of Willow Frost (2013); Love and Other Consolation Prizes (2017); The Many Daughters of Afong Moy (2022)
• Awards: Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature (2010); Washington State Book Award Finalist (2010)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Father-Son Relationships
• Being an American
• Loyalty

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Gain an understanding of the historical and social contexts surrounding the US government’s internment of people of Japanese ancestry and Japanese American citizens during World War II that drive Henry’s conflict with his father and lead to Henry’s separation from his girlfriend, Keiko.
• Study short paired texts and other resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Father-Son Relationships, Being an American, and Loyalty.
• Analyze and write a group report on a Smithsonian online exhibit that dives deeply into Japanese Americans’ experience of citizenship in the wake of internment.
• Examine and appraise plot and character details to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding Henry’s loyalty to Keiko and Ethel, the nature of “healthy” father-son relationships in the novel, and other topics.