Baseball Saved Us By Ken Mochizuki

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Reviewed by Allison Martin

Baseball Saved Us is the story of a young Japanese-American boy in a US internment camp during World War II. Life in the internment camp is boring and depressing. As the draining effect on families of being uprooted and imprisoned in camp becomes apparent, his father organizes a baseball tournament for the boys. The families pull together to create the bases and teams, complete with uniforms, out of the prison material they have for bedding. A pivotal moment comes when his anger at the unfairness of being in camp, always watched by prison guards, gives him the strength to hit a home run.

Eventually the people of the camp are released and allowed to go home. But of course home no longer exists, as they lost all their possessions. On the school playground, once again he is faced with prejudice because he is Japanese. In a recap of the camp experience he hits a home run, and is appreciated by his team mates.

The illustrations are dark and sepiatone, lending to the somber and realistic tone of the text. The young boy's determination is a great example for the reader's, even as the lesson of the destructive nature of prejudice is presented in very human terms with which children can relate.

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