Join the largest book club on the West Coast!
April 1 – May 31, 2026
They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
NOLS joins more than 190 libraries across California, Oregon, and Washington for One Book, One Coast, the largest book club on the West Coast. One Book, One Coast is a shared community reading program that celebrates literacy, learning, community, and civil discourse.
All participating libraries will read and discuss They Called Us Enemy by George Takei.
Read along and join the programs and discussions inspired by the book!
They Called Us Enemy is a graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist George Takei’s childhood imprisoned within American incarceration camps during World War II. Following Executive Order 9066 in 1942, more than 120,000 people of Japanese descent—most of them U.S. citizens—were forced from their homes into camps.
Confronting questions of patriotism, family, loyalty, and community, George’s work is a stunning examination of what it means to be American, both long ago and today.
Borrow the Graphic Novel: Books & eBooks Available
Check out available copies or place a hold in NOLS catalog with your free library card.
George Takei
View the booklist for further reading recommendations similar in theme.
Free Events
Enjoy tea, watch “Defiant to the Last,” and create small bird pins inspired by gaman art that was made by Japanese Americans in incarceration camps, fashioned from whatever limited materials were available. The documentary will be screened during each craft session. It tells the story of the Tule Lake Segregation Center where dissident Japanese Americans were punished for speaking out against the false incarceration during World War II.
- Forks Library: 3:30–4:30pm, Thursdays, May 7, 14, 21, and 28 (Attend any session.)
Bainbridge Island and the Japanese American Exclusion
Ellen Sato Faust, Executive Director of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Association, will discuss the 1942 removal of 227 Bainbridge Island residents who were forced to leave behind the lives they had built. The Bainbridge Island Japanese Americans became the first in the nation to face exclusion from the West Coast.
- Sequim Library: 6pm, Tuesday, May 19 (In-Person)
- Forks Library: 6pm, Tuesday, May 19 (Livestreamed in the library)
- Port Angeles Main Library: 6pm, Thursday, May 21 (In-Person)
Book Discussion – They Called Us Enemy
Drop in and join the conversation about the One Book, One Coast community read selection.
- Sequim Library: 11am, Saturday, May 30
- Port Angeles Main Library: 2pm, Saturday, May 30.
One Book, One Coast will close this year’s reading program with a special author talk. George Takei, actor and author, will join Library Directors from LA County Library and Long Beach Public Library in a conversation about his memoir, They Called Us Enemy.
Screening of this livestreamed event:
Sunday, May 31
- Sequim Library: Doors open at 1:30pm. Livestream begins at 2pm.
- Forks Library: Doors open at 1:30pm. Livestream begins at 2pm.
- Virtual option: Register to watch on Zoom through LA County Library.
One Book, One Coast programs are generously funded in part by local Friends of the Library Groups.