Reviews for El Beisbol Nos Salvo / Baseball Saved Us

The average rating for El Beisbol Nos Salvo / Baseball Saved Us based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-03-19 00:00:00 Martin Kryger Baseball season's coming around, and lately I have been reading WWII--and specifically internment--books, never in my youth having learned about anything of this from my educational system, so I thought I would read a book about baseball. . . and racism, just to cheer myself up, obviously. As you may now know, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor the U. S. decided to imprison Japanese-American families in the desert for around three years, no questions asked, because of their possible threat to American safety and well-being. With no evidence of there being any danger from any specific individuals. i just read the similar Barbed Wire Baseball, by Marissa Moss, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu, which has as its advantage that it is about an actual heroic Japanese-American coach and player, Zeni Zenimura, who took the lead in building a baseball field and stands in one of these camps, developing multiple leagues with many teams. In Baseball Saved us we have a fictional story, presumably based in part in the story of Ken Mochizuki's own father's internment in a camp. It's illustrated by Don Lee, in a similar style to Shimizu's Barbed Wire, a sepia-toned period style. But the story features a nameless boy and his father, who like Zenimura, leads the project of building a baseball field. This story focuses on a short kid who overcomes among other things racism to become a good player. Baseball, in a sense, saves him, but it is only when he plays well that he seems to get white teammates on his side, as happened with Jackie Robinson. There's a silent white (and armed) guard in a tower who gives him a thumbs up when he gets a winning hit, but this moment isn't a huge victory, right? Why should they have to be "saved" at all?! This is a good way to introduce young kids to this shameful historical moment. The internment and racism is definitely there in the story to ask questions about. I like the idea of using both books (and more; Farewell to Manzanar, and many others). A bittersweet nod to baseball, the "All American" sport. . .

Review # 2 was written on 2019-03-26 00:00:00 James Smith This book might be a good starting point for introducing youngsters to the period of U.S. history in which the government forced Japanese-American families into so-called internment camps after Pearl Harbor, even though there’s no concrete sense of historical facts in the story, such as how long the family was confined or the condition of their house after they were allowed to return it. Other discussions might arise from the text, I would hope, such as the acceptance the boy is afforded only after he becomes a better ballplayer. For the same age group, there’s also Barbed Wire Baseball.