Cultural story of baseball in the American interment camps.
A touching story about the US Japanese Internment camps and how the people in the camps coped with the situation.
Parents' choice award
"Surrounded by guards, fences, and desert, Japanese-Americans in an internment camp create a baseball field. A young boy tells how baseball gave them a purpose while enduring injustice and humiliation. The first person narrative is moving" - American Bookseller, "Pick of the Lists"
"A new dimension in...the traditional sports story" - Booklist
"Captures the confusion, wonder and terror...with convincing understatement" - The New York Times
"Surrounded by guards, fences, and desert, Japanese-Americans in an internment camp create a baseball field. A young boy tells how baseball gave them a purpose while enduring injustice and humiliation. The first person narrative is moving" - American Bookseller, "Pick of the Lists"
"A new dimension in...the traditional sports story" - Booklist
"Captures the confusion, wonder and terror...with convincing understatement" - The New York Times
This is fictional account based on the true story of Japanese citizens interned at camps during WWII as if they were not loyal to the USA after the Pearl Harbor attack. It is not a happy story in all ways, but there were some positive things that show the endurance and perseverance of humans under tough conditions. The Japanese-Americans, adults and kids, set up baseball fields and teams and kept themselves busy and entertained playing baseball. It is a great way to teach kids about this time in history.
The author's parents were sent to the Minidoka camp in Idaho.
The author's parents were sent to the Minidoka camp in Idaho.