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Baseball Saved Us
(Adobe PDF eBook, OverDrive Read)

Book Cover
Average Rating
Author:
Illustrator:
Published:
Lee & Low Books 1993
Accelerated Reader:
IL: LG - BL: 3.9 - AR Pts: 0.5
Lexile measure:
AD: Adult Directed 550L
Status:
Checked Out
Description

Twenty-five years ago, Baseball Saved Us changed the picture-book landscape with its honest story of a Japanese American boy in an internment camp during World War II. This anniversary edition will introduce new readers to this modern-day classic.

One day my dad looked out at the endless desert and decided then and there to build a baseball field.

"Shorty" and his family, along with thousands of other Japanese Americans, have been forced to relocate from their homes to a "camp" after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Fighting the heat, dust, and freezing cold nights of the desert, Shorty and the others at the camp need something to look forward to, even if only for nine innings. So they build a playing field, and in this unlikely place, a baseball league is formed. Surrounded by barbed-wire fences and guards in towers, Shorty soon finds that he is playing not only to win, but to gain dignity and self-respect as well.

Inspired by actual events, this moving story of hope and courage in a Japanese American internment camp during World War II reveals a long-hidden and ugly part of the American past. This 25th Anniversary Edition features a revised cover and a new introduction from the author and illustrator.

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More Details
Format:
Adobe PDF eBook, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
03/01/1993
Language:
English
ISBN:
9781600609565
Accelerated Reader:
LG
Level 3.9, 0.5 Points
Lexile code:
AD: Adult Directed
Lexile measure:
550
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Ken Mochizuki. (1993). Baseball Saved Us. Lee & Low Books.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Ken Mochizuki. 1993. Baseball Saved Us. Lee & Low Books.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Ken Mochizuki, Baseball Saved Us. Lee & Low Books, 1993.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Ken Mochizuki. Baseball Saved Us. Lee & Low Books, 1993.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
Copy Details
LibraryOwnedAvailable
Shared Digital Collection10

There is 1 hold on this title.

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Grouped Work ID:
c70f4465-15fd-428f-99ea-a03d2af29363
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Needs Update?:
No
Date Added:
May 25, 2022 16:17:21
Date Updated:
Aug 17, 2022 16:14:44
Last Metadata Check:
Apr 30, 2024 09:29:32
Last Metadata Change:
Dec 14, 2023 17:15:32
Last Availability Check:
Apr 30, 2024 09:29:34
Last Availability Change:
Apr 30, 2024 09:29:34
Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
May 02, 2024 02:13:31

OverDrive Product Record

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      • value: World War II
      • value: asian american
      • value: overcoming obstacles
      • value: ww2
      • value: Pearl Harbor
      • value: WWII
      • value: sports
      • value: underdog
      • value: rite of passage
      • value: discrimination
      • value: United States History
      • value: sports history
      • value: Dom Lee
      • value: Ken Mochizuki
      • value: Asian/American interest
      • value: Internmen
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      • role: Author
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        Ken Mochizuki is a writer, journalist, and former actor who made his picture-book debut with Baseball Saved Us. He is also the author of several other award-winning picture books published by Lee & Low, including Passage to Freedom and Heroes. Mochizuki lives in Maple Valley, Washington. His website is kenmochizuki.com.

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publishDate
1993-03-01T00:00:00-05:00
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title
Baseball Saved Us
fullDescription

Twenty-five years ago, Baseball Saved Us changed the picture-book landscape with its honest story of a Japanese American boy in an internment camp during World War II. This anniversary edition will introduce new readers to this modern-day classic.

One day my dad looked out at the endless desert and decided then and there to build a baseball field.

"Shorty" and his family, along with thousands of other Japanese Americans, have been forced to relocate from their homes to a "camp" after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Fighting the heat, dust, and freezing cold nights of the desert, Shorty and the others at the camp need something to look forward to, even if only for nine innings. So they build a playing field, and in this unlikely place, a baseball league is formed. Surrounded by barbed-wire fences and guards in towers, Shorty soon finds that he is playing not only to win, but to gain dignity and self-respect as well.

Inspired by actual events, this moving story of hope and courage in a Japanese American internment camp during World War II reveals a long-hidden and ugly part of the American past. This 25th Anniversary Edition features a revised cover and a new introduction from the author and illustrator.

gradeLevels
      • value: Grade 2
      • value: Grade 3
reviews
      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        March 1, 1993
        These collaborators' prepossessing debut book introduces readers to a significant and often-neglected--for children, at any rate--chapter in U.S. history: the internment of Japanese-Americans during WW II. The nameless narrator and his family inhabit a camp in the parched American desert, where life becomes a bit more bearable after the internees build a baseball field, and the boy gains self-worth by hitting a championship home run. Although Mochizuki's stylish prose evocatively details the harsh injustice of the camps, some may feel the book suffers from uneven pacing. An introduction and much of the text are spent on background, leaving little time devoted to the actual camp regimen. In addition, the ending, in which the hero returns to school after the war and is again saved from prejudice by baseball, seems tacked on. Lee's stirring illustrations were inspired by Ansel Adams's photographs of the Manzanar internment camp. In the muted browns, sepias and golds of the desert, the artist movingly conveys the bleakness of camp life, with its cramped quarters, swirling dust storms and armed guards. The baseball scenes' motion and excitement lend effective contrast; the final illustration stands in particularly moving counterpoint to the earlier rigors. Ages 4-up.

      • premium: True
      • source: School Library Journal
      • content:

        June 1, 1993
        Gr 2-4- -After briefly describing the way his family was removed from their home and sent to an internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II, the narrator, ""Shorty,"" tells how baseball was used as a diversion from the dire situation in which the camp's inhabitants found themselves. After improvising a baseball diamond, uniforms, and equipment, they played games. In one of these contests, the usually weak-hitting Shorty catches a glimpse of one of the ever-present guards and channels his anger toward the man into his swing, resulting in a winning home run. After the war and his return home, he continues to play ball while at the same time being subjected to racial taunts, again refocusing his anger to produce positive results on the diamond. The sport plays a secondary role to the blatant racism depicted in this somber book. The paintings, scratchboard overlaid with oils, effectively reflect the tone of the story. Pair this powerful title with Hamanaka's The Journey (Orchard, 1990). -Tom S. Hurlburt, La Crosse Public Library, WI

      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        February 27, 1995
        PW praised the ``stylish prose'' and ``stirring illustrations'' in this tale of a Japanese American boy's confinement in a WWII internment camp. Ages 4-up.

      • premium: True
      • source: The Horn Book
      • content:

        July 1, 2019
        This poignant story of a young Japanese American boy trying to make sense of the world was one of the first American picture books to overtly talk about Japanese American internment and acknowledge racism and its effects on a child. This twenty-fifth anniversary edition contains moving author and illustrator notes: Mochizuki hopes that the book has been a "role model"; Lee fears "history repeating itself."

        (Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

popularity
26
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publishDateText
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shortDescription

Twenty-five years ago, Baseball Saved Us changed the picture-book landscape with its honest story of a Japanese American boy in an internment camp during World War II. This anniversary edition will introduce new readers to this modern-day classic.

One day my dad looked out at the endless desert and decided then and there to build a baseball field.

"Shorty" and his family, along with thousands of other Japanese Americans, have been forced to relocate from their homes to a "camp" after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Fighting the heat, dust, and freezing cold nights of the desert, Shorty and the others at the camp need something to look forward to, even if only for nine innings. So they build a playing field, and in this unlikely place, a baseball league is formed. Surrounded by barbed-wire fences and guards in towers, Shorty soon finds that he is playing not only to win, but to gain dignity and self-respect as well.

Inspired by actual...

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publisher
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atos
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