The Lucky Baseball

January 1, 2010
Gr 5-7-Harry Yakamoto lives with his father and grandparents above the restaurant they operate in Seven Cedars, CA. His prized possession is a signed baseball from Joe DiMaggio. As Japanese-Americans in the early 1940s, Harry and his family often face discrimination, but things get worse after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Yakamotos are forced to relocate to the Manzanar Internment Camp, where they live in close quarters, eat meals in a mess hall, and share a communal bathroom. Determined to make the best of the situation, Harry organizes a baseball team and improves his pitching, thanks to a kindly guard who gives him some pointers. The setting is brought to life with vivid descriptions of life in 1940s America and in the internment camp. Baseball is woven seamlessly throughout the story and will appeal to sports fans. However, sometimes the narrative can seem a little too much like a history lesson. For example, when Harry is leaving the camp, he summarizes several events that occurred there in a manner that seems a little too mature for a 12-year-old. Overall, this is a solid, but additional, purchase."Kristen Oravec, Flint Hill Middle School, Oakton, VA"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2009
Grades 3-6 Like Ken Mochizukis classic picture book Baseball Saved Us (1993), this entry in the Historical Fiction Adventures series tells the story of a Japanese American kid whose love of baseball helps sustain him during his years spent in a World War II relocation camp. After Pearl Harbor is attacked, 12-year-old Harry Yakamotos family is forced to leave their restaurant behind and begin a new life at Manzanar, a windy sandbox of a prison in eastern California. Camp life becomes a bit more bearable, though, after Harry and his best friend, Mike, start a youth baseball league. The details of life in the camp, from the reeking latrines to the food that improves after Harrys family takes over the blocks kitchen, are sharp and memorable, and Lieurance adds gentle conflict as Harry tries to fulfill family responsibilities and defend his passion for baseball to his scornful dad. A nonfiction Real History chapter closes this title, which folds uplifting messages of community strength into its childs view of racial discrimination and internment.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)