Not Ever Again

One of many things gained from being an avid reader of historical fiction is there are two sides (or more) to every story.  This is readily apparent during a time of war; each choice made by each person creates layers upon layers.  To see events unfold through the eyes of a child, a person powerless to major decision making, is particularly poignant.

My understanding of World War II deepened when I read Duke (Scholastic Press, August 2013) by 2007 Newbery Honor winner (Hattie Big Sky) Kirby Larson.  As a companion title, Dash (Scholastic Press, August 26 2014), follows the lives of another family on the home front.  Barely completing the first page, readers will have stepped back in time, becoming another member, a silent member, of the Kashino family.

Mitsi Kashino packed her sketch pad, her binder, and her worry in her book bag.  Dash sniffed the straps before flattening himself on top of it, muzzle resting on his front paws.  He watched Mitsi with worried brown eyes.  She ruffled the scruffy almond-colored fur on his head.

Christmas vacation, December 1941, has come and gone.  Returning to school Mitsi, an American of Japanese descent, is hopeful her classmates will no longer stare at her in the hallways or leave hurtful notes in her desk.  Hope leaves when her two friends, Mags and Judy, seem to have acquired another pal, Patty, who is especially cruel to Mitsi.  On the way home from school a group of older boys chase her, circling around, scattering items in her book bag and taunting her with chants.  Thankfully a neighbor, Mrs. Bowker, comes to her rescue, swinging her broom like a ball bat.

Chapter by chapter the dread filling the hearts and home of the Kashino family builds until the day Mitsi and her magic-loving older brother read the announcement posted on a telephone pole.  All people of Japanese descent, whether they were born in America or not, are being evacuated to camps.  They can only take with them those items they can carry.  Stop...think about this...long and hard.  A decidedly horrible situation is made worse when Mitsi is told she cannot bring Dash, her closest friend and confident.

Having built a relationship with Mrs. Bowker, working in her gardens, Mitsi is able to leave Dash with her.  A touching kindness is shown to her by her teacher as all the people gather to ride the trucks to the camp; a gift of pencils and a drawing pad for her artistic student.  Initially they are taken to Camp Harmony (the state fairgrounds) to live in a tiny room with only five cots, a stove to keep them warm and paper thin walls.

These Americans ate in a mess hall, used outdoor latrines for multiple people with no privacy, slept on straw-filled mattresses, delivered and received mail and bought supplies at a canteen.  As days turn into weeks, Mitsi sees her family dynamics change.  Relationships are shifting as connections are made with others at the camp; some are good, others are not.  When a rhythm of living here seems to be forming, more bad news is received.  They are being moved again...by train for three days...to Idaho.


There is something extraordinary about the books written by Kirby Larson.  Great care is taken in depictions of place and people.  Every experience is brought to life through the thoughts of her main character and the dialogue between the other personalities.  Impeccable research leading to specific descriptions creates movies in the minds of her readers.  You are immersed in the worlds her written words weave.

Burning all their Japanese books and heirlooms to maintain their American identity, turning in their radios and cameras to the authorities, and her grandmother having to register because she was born in Japan not only paint a true picture of this historical time period but build a connection between this family and the reader.  We ride with them in the trucks and on the train, stand in line with them at the camps, we suffer their humiliation and lack of privacy, and we feel the resilience and unity of the Kashinos and many others like them.  Our hearts are bound to Mitsi as she struggles to understand, as she develops skills to adjust and survive and writes letters to Dash (Mrs. Bowker) and receives messages in return.  Here are a couple passages from the book.

"What kind of flowers are you going to plant?" she asked.
"Oh, crocus and daffodils and tulips." Mrs. Bowker waved her arm like an orchestra conductor.
"And later on, peonies and roses and gladiolus."
Mitsi thought of the beautiful gardens Uncle Shig planted along the borders of his strawberry fields.  "It must be hard to wait," she said.
"Oh, very hard." Tears glimmered in Mrs. Bowker's brown eyes.  "But that's what life is all about.  Doing winter's work in hopes of summer's flowers."

Mitsi wrapped her arms around Dash.  She inhaled as deeply as she could so she wouldn't forget his smell.
Mrs. Bowker held the camera up to her eye, peering through the viewfinder.  "Say 'cheese' ".
It was a good thing it was only a camera, not an X-ray machine, or all Mrs. Bowker would see was Mitsi's heart broken into a billion kibble-size bits.

Mitsi's throat was raw from the dust, and the ringing in her ears was driving her crazy.  Mom heard from Mrs. Suda who heard from Mrs. Kusakabe that the ringing was because of the altitude.
"Seattle is only about five hundred feet above sea level," Pop explained.  "Here, we're about four thousand feet above.  That's a big difference."
"As soon as you get used to the altitude, the ringing will stop," Mom promised.
Mitsi rolled over on her cot, blanketed in misery.  She was never going to get used to anything about this place, not the dust or the miles of sagebrush or the pancake-flat landscape without one tree to provide shade from the bullying sun.


Give Dash written by Kirby Larson to readers who loved Duke, to readers who like exceptional historical fiction, to readers who enjoy seeing the world of others and to readers who like dog stories.  I know this book would be a favorite read aloud.  Our children need to experience through great stories what happened in the past so we can all be better.  You have to trust me, this book will move you...deeply.

Please follow the link embedded in Kirby Larson's name to read about her and her other books.

Play Ball...

Every spring as soon as the ground thawed and the mud dried up, after school and on weekends, the neighborhood kids headed to the vacant lot on the street for a game of softball or baseball.  When school finished for the summer, day in and day out, we would play ball.  Even when the leagues started, we would still throw together a game when we could.

In 1968 when the Detroit Tigers won the World Series our entire student body gathered in the high school gym to watch it on televisions wheeled in on carts; hearing Ernie Harwell's voice on the radio forever etched in our memories.  America's past-time brings people together in a shared passion.  As evidenced by Barbed Wire Baseball (Abrams Books For Young Readers) written by Marissa Moss with illustrations by Yuko Shimizu, it can be the silver lining in the hardest of times.



Zeni watched the wooden bat thwack the baseball, hurling it high and straight.

From that day forward Kenichi Zenimura (he was eight years old) made his life's focus the game of baseball.  Despite his small stature even as an adult, five feet tall, hardly weighing 100 pounds, Zeni coached, managed and played in two leagues in California.  His skills were so highly respected he played with New York Yankee legends, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, in an exhibition game.

On December 14, 1941 everything changed.  After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Zeni, his wife and two teenage sons, along with 120,000 other Japanese Americans, were sent to internment camps. Their ancestry alone labeled them as potential enemies of the United States.

Rows of barracks filled with rows of cots surrounded by barbed wire fences in the desert of Gila River, Arizona became their new living quarters.  Zeni knew there was only one thing which would keep hope alive; one thing which would make this seem more like home---baseball.  He began alone clearing a space of rocks and desert plants but was soon joined by his sons and other men and boys.  Making the dream a reality had started.

Each time his sons thought the field was ready for play, Zeni would say not yet.  Each time Zeni was aiming for the closest possible authentic baseball park.  A borrowed bulldozer, diverted irrigation, pipes from the laundry room, a clandestine trip in the night, potato sacks and flour all added together with the hard work of many to create a miracle in the middle of the hot sun and arid land.

Try to imagine the first game, the excitement filling the very air as six thousand people gathered to watch.  Zeni was at bat.  He swung.  The ball and his spirit soared out and over the barbed wire fence.


The thorough research of author Marissa Moss is noticeable on the first page.  Using personal details she brings this prominent person of the past to life for her readers.  While some readers will know of the internment camps, few will know how this man's love of baseball transformed the lives of those at the Gila River Relocation Center in Arizona.

Her writing technique, a blend of narrative and dialogue, while informative is full of energy and warmth.  Each portion of the book is as captivating as a work of fiction but even more interesting for readers knowing it's all true.  Here is a single passage.

Zeni stood staring at the dry earth, which was broken up every now and then by a few bits of green.  In all the brown and gray, with a dull, coppery sky overhead, he felt as if he were shrinking into a tiny hard ball.


This is the debut picture book for renowned illustrator Yuko Shimizu.  Rendering the illustrations with Japanese calligraphy brush and ink, scanning and then coloring done entirely in Adobe Photoshop 3 and 5.5, she creates visuals stunning in their accuracy and depiction of the time, place and people.  The picture on the front cover speaks of the depth of character, courage and determination of  Kenichi Zenimura, the Japanese writing in the upper right hand corner spelling his last name as it might have appeared on Japanese baseball cards in the mid-twentieth century.  On the back of the jacket is a baseball with his name in the center superimposed on a barbed wire fence with golden lines extending like rays of a sun.

The cover is different; featuring two poses of Zeni from the inside of the book.  Opening and closing endpapers are a dusty teal sky with textured clouds over a barbed wire fence along the bottom.  The title page is an extension of the endpapers with a single large hand clasping a homemade baseball ticket  including the pertinent information on the right; a clever, meaningful design.  The remaining visuals all extend from edge to edge of two pages, enhancing the text beautifully.  They are pointed, poignant and uplifting.  One of my favorites is Zeni sitting on his cot at night after his arrival at the camp.  A single light bulb dimly lights the room as moths fly around the glow.  He is holding in his hands the photograph of himself standing between Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth with three other ball players.


Author Marissa Moss and illustrator Yuko Shimizu have brought to readers a brilliant rendition of the life of Kenichi Zenimura and his place in American and baseball history in their book, Barbed Wire Baseball.  This is one of those nonfiction picture books which could be used in the study of this time period at many age levels.  It has potential to be used for various discussions on a variety of topics.

An afterword, author's note, illustrator's note, author's bibliography, illustrator's bibliography and index are found at the book's end.  Links to each of their websites are embedded in their names.  Follow this link to a curriculum guide supplied by Abrams.