The Lucky Baseball is a highly entertaining and educational novel about a young Japanese-American boy whose dream is to become a famous baseball player. Set during the time of the war between the US and Japan, the book teaches about that dark era of our time while proving young readers with a fast-paced, interesting plot and a strong and sympathetic protagonist.
This middle-grade historical novel begins on the eve of the war. Our young hero, 12-year old Harry Yakamoto, lives in Seven Cedars, California with his father and grandparents in an apartment above their restaurant. In spite of the regular prejudice he encounters as a Japanese-American, he lives a reasonably happy life doing what he enjoys most: playing baseball and spending time with his family and friends. His biggest dream is to become a professional baseball player one day, but he has a series of obstacles. For one, his father expects him to run the family restaurant one day, and is not pleased when he sees Harry practicing ball too much. To add to that, he's not able to join the teams in town because a lot of the kids--especially a bully named Tony Rossi--are prejudiced against his background. In spite of all this, Harry tries to make the best of life.
Then his life turns upside down when the US declares war on Japan and he and his family are forced to relocate to a camp 200 miles away in the middle of the desert. There, his living quarters are reduced to a cold and dusty, small room he has to share with his family. Dirty latrines, poor food, rude guards, and another bully are some of his other new problems. But the fire of baseball eternally blazes in his heart and he soon forms a team and becomes the captain. Will Harry live his dream? Will he go back to Seven Cedars and live like a normal American without the evils of prejudice?
I'm not a fan of baseball, but I have to say I loved reading this book. The story and especially the protagonist drew me in from the beginning. Harry is a special character with a distinct voice and personality. He has his flaws, but is brave and pure at heart. He's the kind of young hero readers like to root for. The plot moves fairly quickly without a lot of exposition or description. I felt transported back in time and learned a lot about the camps.
The Lucky Baseball offers a glimpse into the evils of war and the injustice of prejudice. What I especially like is that the author doesn't lecture or preach; the message comes through from the action.
The Lucky Baseball is 160 pages and is geared at grades 5 to 7. If you have a middle grader who loves baseball, this is a story he or she will surely enjoy. It is also excellent reading material for classrooms, as it offers many subjects for discussion. Highly recommended.
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Hilltop villages, winding roads, a shepherd sitting on a red blanket while his pecorino sheep browse, sunflower fields flattened to grids of black stalks and deeply ploughed raw umber earth bordered by silvery olive groves... this is Le Marche in autumn. Not picture postcard but with an earthy ruggedness.
I’ve just spent a week across the valley from Urbisaglia, a town at the crossroads between coast and interior where the Roman town of Urbs Salvia once existed. Its amphitheatre, still fairly intact, and the stones of its aquaduct, cisterns, baths, theatre and tombs all that remain of the colony that reached its height during the first half of the 1st century BC and was utterly destroyed by the Visigoths under Alaric in about 410 AD.
Walking the winding farm road down from our villa near Paterno, across the valley to Urbisaglia, with the vineyards in the distance catching the low sunlight and the spires and towers of far hilltop towns taking on the chalkiness of frescoes, stirs the writer in me and puts me in the mood to set a story based here. Fired up by Roman ruins I’m breathing in a sense of place.
But its another story I discover... too big to write... that completely overwhelms me.
The internment camp of Urbisaglia was one of the first to be established by the Ministry of the Interior in Italy in 1940. The first inmates were Italian Jews who were suspected of having anti-fascist sympathies. Soon after, other ‘refugees’ began arriving from outside Italy... from Germany, Austria, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Dalmatia.
In the peaceful surrounds of the Abbadia di Fiastra where 12 Cistercian monks still live, is the Villa Bandini – a huge Palazzo where the inmates were held. There were hundreds of beds on the floor and a large hall was used as a refectory but the building was still overcrowded. They were given access to the park and a small synogue was allowed to exist inside the building.
According to testimonies, the Jews were well accepted by the people of Urbisaglia. Many of the interns were merchants, painters and doctors, who spent their time helping with farm work or using their professions in some way amongst the locals.
Its hard to discover their true story. I’m relying on words translated from Italian. And its made more difficult to even imagine while walking in the sublime surroundings of the Abbadia, that apart from a few escapees, all of the people held here were finally transferred to extermination camps.
The following was written by the only survivor of Auschwitz from Urbisalglia’s internment camp, by a man named Paul Pollak:
‘Before my stay in Urbisaglia I was in a German concentration camp and after Urbisaglia, I was at Auschwitz where prisoners could talk to all Eurorpean countries, and was able to compare the fate and treatment of Jews in other countries. I always had this spirit in the camp of Urbisaglia. Humane treatment of its inmates will always receive full marks for Italy and a document of his noble ancient civilization and his sincere piety. In the hours and dark grey in Auschwitz, we have always seen in front of us, like a mirage, the bright garden of Urbisaglia in Italy, a country of sun and good people.’
We don’t often think of picture books when we think of book group titles, but this month the Tiger’s Choice offers a picture book. It’s one that is an ideal selection for adults and children to read and discuss together–created by two men, Ken Mochizuki and Dom Lee, who have provided a new defintion of what picture books can be.
Heroes follows their stunning debut, Baseball Saved Us, with a story as powerful and as provocative as that examination of the Japanese internment in the United States during World War Two. This time the story looks at peacetime America, and the difficulty of overcoming the vicious stereotyping that is the collateral damage of war.
One of the most moving and heroic stories from World War Two is the history of the Japanese American men who enlisted in the U.S. Army and formed the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, fighting in Europe and becoming “one of the most highly decorated units in U.S. Army history”–even though many of them had family members confined behind barbed wire fences in desolate internment camps. The strength of these soldiers’ patriotism and the bravery of their military exploits makes my hair stand on end when I read about them–and so does this book.
When Donnie plays war with the other kids, he’s always the enemy because, he’s told, “there wasn’t anybody looking like you on our side.” He knows that isn’t true. He’s heard his father and uncle talk about their time in the Army ; he’s seen their war medals. Yet he’s told, “Real heroes don’t brag” and “You kids should be playing something else besides war.”
But the war games don’t stop–they become more real and more frightening–and Donnie needs help.
Please read this book and add your comments to our final Tiger’s Choice discussion.
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Hi, Mayra,
I'm so glad you enjoyed The Lucky Baseball. I really had fun writing Harry's story. I also have fun talking to kids at schools about using real events in history as the basis for fiction. Teachers can find out more at my author site at http://www.suzannelieurance.com
Thanks so much, Mayra for the review.
Happy holidays!
Suzanne