Baseball Saved US



Baseball Saved Us

By Ken Mochizuki, Illus. Dom Lee

Grades: 4-6

During WWII, Shorty, a young Japanese boy is sent to an internment camp as the result of the attack on Pearl Harbor. When the youths can take no more and start disrespecting the elders, Shorty’s dad decides that a baseball field will be good for everyone. Before Shorty came to the camp he was always picked last for teams and made fun of for being small. As he started playing in the camp, he became very good. When he returns home, the white classmates either ignore him or call him names. Shorty then decides to play on their baseball team. Will Shorty prove to them he can play baseball? Find out in Baseball Saved Us.

After the attack on Pear Harbor a Japanese boy nicknamed “Shorty” and his family are sent to stay in an internment camp. Before he moved to the camp, Shorty, who got his nickname from being smaller than his classmates, was always picked last for teams when they played games. Soon, shorty wasn’t all the kids were calling him, he began to be called other mean names and none of the kids would talk to him. Once Shorty and his family moved to the camp after a period of time things became worse. The young people of the camp were becoming depressed and as a result they began disrespecting their elders. Shorty’s father had an idea. They would build a baseball field for youths and adults to play on! With the eyes of the guard always watching them, Shorty was determined to make it home base. He finally got his wish and made it home base. His teammates embraced him and put them on his shoulders. When Shorty returned home from the camp, the kids still teased and ignored him. Shorty ends up playing on a baseball team with the white kids and proves to them that just because he is Japanese doesn’t mean he can’t play baseball well.

The events in the story are consistent with the historical evidence and is appropriate to the time period because after the attack on Pearl Harbor stereotypes arose towards Asian Americans. They were thought not to be trusted, even though they were living in the U.S. during the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The social issues are honest because Asian American faced prejudice and were then sent to the internment camps where they could be watched and monitored. The book does not condone racism per se, but words such as “Jap” are used to tease and torment Shorty. This is just a representation of the issues that Asian Americans faced during the time period.

The setting in the story provides the reader with an accurate historical time period, which in this story happens to be during WWII after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The geographical evidence would be the location of the internment camp as well as the camp itself. The characters in the story are well developed in terms of their feelings, values, and behavior because the characters in the story are forced to move from their homes, brought to a camp where they are always being watched, and still somehow manage to keep their sanity. The feelings of the characters are portrayed by the dialogue as well as the illustrations in the book and can still be understood by the reader. The plot is based on authentic facts because a baseball field was built in an internment camp and as team was formed inside the camp. The theme of this story brings about larger historical concerns as what happened to Asian Americans once they were allowed back home and what other issues did Asian Americans face in society with the prejudice felt by other based on the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The illustrations in this story provide visuals for readers for an understanding of what is going in the time period in the book as well as the elements of a story (setting, plot, characterization through realistic details). The pictures visualize the plot for the reader by the illustrations of the internment camp, the ball field, and the inhabitants in the camp. The illustrations represent the plot of the story which is the construction of a baseball field and later turns into Shorty coming home and making the decision to join an all white baseball team. The realistic details of the illustration make it easier for the reader to generate emotions and feelings that the characters in the story might be going through as well as what the interment camp looked like if they were not aware of what one looked like.

This book would be a good book for a classroom library because it is both historical fiction as well as multicultural. The characters in the story are Asian American and this book could be used to teach what Asian Americans had to go through during this time period. When introducing WWII and Pearl Harbor to a class, this would be a perfect picture book that is both informational and enjoyable to read. Students will be able to have a sense of what was going on during that time period and how it connects to the characters in the story.

The MA ELA Frameworks for this book are, RL.4.3. Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., character’s thoughts, words, or actions), RL.5.6. Describe how a narrator’s or speaker’s point of view influences how events are described, MA.8.A. Identify elements of fiction (e.g., characters, plot, setting, plot, problem, solution) and elements of poetry (e.g., rhyme, rhythm, figurative language, alliteration, onomatopoeia).