ALA Booklist (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 1993)

The traditional sports story of the outsider who gains social acceptance when he hits a home run gets a new dimension in this picture book about a Japanese American kid interned in a desert concentration camp during World War II. In a spare, first-person narrative, "Shorty" tells how he and his family are suddenly moved from their home and set down behind barbed wire in a barracks in the desert. His father organizes the building of a baseball field, and, in sight of the armed watchtower guard, Shorty learns to play. After the war, when they return home, things are still bad: at school he has to eat lunch alone, and he still hears "Jap" insults--until he joins the team and whacks the ball right over the fence. Fences and watchtowers are in the background of many of Lee's moving illustrations, some of which were inspired by Ansel Adams' 1943 photographs of Manzanar. In shades of brown, Lee's images evoke the bleak desert isolation, and also the boy's loneliness in the school lunchroom after the war; in contrast is the focus on his close relationship with his father and the warmth of the team. The baseball action will grab kids--and so will the personal experience of bigotry.

Horn Book

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."

Kirkus Reviews (Mon Feb 06 00:00:00 CST 2023)

Drawing on his Japanese-American parents' experiences, a new author uses his narrator's struggle to become a better, and more accepted, ballplayer to portray a WW II internment camp. Quietly, Shorty'' describes his family's sudden removal to the camp in 1942, the grim surroundings, the restiveness his dad hopes to counter by building a baseball diamond. Materials are improvised (uniforms are made from mattress ticking), but the game soon thrives. Still, Shorty is usually aneasy out'' until anger at the perpetually watching guard inspires him to hit a homer— whereupon he sees the guard give him thumbs-up and a grin. But the real focus here is the camp and the prejudice that caused it. Back home after the war, Shorty finds friendly teammates but still hears racist taunts when he plays—and still uses the anger he feels to strengthen his resolve and do his best. Using scratchboard overlaid with oils, Lee (who grew up in Korea) provides splendidly evocative art whose somber tones are enriched with luminous color; he's a keen observer of baseball and the camp milieu. Fine debuts for author, illustrator, and publisher. (Picture book. 6-10)"

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

PW praised the stylish prose'' andstirring illustrations'' in this tale of a Japanese American boy's confinement in a WWII internment camp. Ages 4-up. (Mar.)

School Library Journal (Mon Feb 06 00:00:00 CST 2023)

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