A poignant coming-of-age novel for middle-grade readers about a young
boy obsessed with baseball whose life changes drastically when war comes
to his Vancouver Japanese community.
Ten-year-old Kenny (Kenji in Japanese) worships his older brother,
Mickey (Mitsuo), a baseball hero whose outstanding performance on the
Asahi baseball team has given him fame and popularity. Despite Kenny's
suspected heart condition, he is determined to practice secretly with
Mickey so he, too, can one day try out for the Asahi. But world events
soon overtake life in this quiet community. When Japan attacks Pearl
Harbor in 1941, everything for Kenny and his family spirals out of
control: schools are closed, businesses are confiscated, fathers are
arrested and sent to work camps in the BC interior and mothers and
children are relocated to internment camps. When Mickey is arrested for
a small act of violence, Kenny manages to keep his family's spirits up,
despite the deplorable conditions in camp. Coming across a vacant field
covered with scrap wood, broken shakes and torn tar paper, Kenny gets
permission to clear it and convert it into a baseball field. One by one,
the boys in the camp pitch in, and the work gives purpose to their long
days. Kenny's persistence, hard work and big dreams shape the teen he is
to become in this story of happiness found despite all odds.