Baseball Saved Us

Baseball Saved Us
Mochizuki, Ken
Lee Dom
Lee & Low Books, Inc. (1995)
Realistic fiction, Multicultural
K-3
Baseball Saved Us began with the author's note which gave the reader background information on how Japanese Americans were unfairly forced into internment camps During world war two because their fellow citizens did not trust them. the story begins with a young Japanese American boy who is living in an internment camp. his father tells him that it is wrong that they are forced to live there. The boy thinks back to when Pearl Harbor was attacked and how he was called names and how sad his mother was when they had to leave there home and trow away many of their belongings. then he tells the reader about their cramped and unpleasant living conditions and how he had trouble sleeping. One day his brother Teddy talked back to his father in a very disrespectful way and this made his father decide that the camp needed to play baseball. the men dug out a baseball field while the women made uniforms out of mattress covers. Their friends from back home sent bats, balls, and gloves for them to use. Once the field was complete they formed teams and began playing. He remarked that playing baseball in the camps was easier that at home because most of the boys in the camp were his size. None the less, he still struggled until one day he decided that he was not going to let the guard who was always watching him see him defeated and he made a home run. After the war, he and his family were finally able to go home. But they still were not accepted and he was called names and had to eat lunch by himself. He played baseball when he returned home but it was once again harder because he was still smaller and he faced pregidous because he was Japanese. he was finally able to succeed at baseball when he imagined that the pitcher was that same guard.

Sadly, many children do not know the great injustice that was done to Japanese Americans during world war two by our country. I believe that children should be taught about the past so the same mistakes will not be made twice. Reading this book to students or having them read it themselves would be a wonderful way to inform them about this stain on our country's history. I think that children could easily identify with this boy's struggles because some of his struggles such as his difficulty playing a sport is not uncommon at all. This book also teaches students about tolerance and that you cannot judge someone simply by how they look or what descent they are.

The illustrations are absolutely amazing. they are made by firs etching the images into beeswax then by adding oil paint. the copy right page tells that some of the images were inspired by real photos from an internment camp. the time and detail Lee put into these single an double page illustrations show how important it must have been to him to illustrate this story in a way that would capture the readers attention. Lee defiantly succeeded in capturing my attention and they make the book much better.