"What's the matter, Mama?
We have to pack ...
Why?
We have to go ...
To one of the ghost towns?
I don't want to go!
There are no ghosts, Sandy."
Sandy Saito is a huge baseball fan. His favorite team is the Vancouver Asahi. The team is a source of pride for the Japanese Canadian community, bringing honor and respect at a time when harsh racial discrimination is rampant. When they lose in the 1941 semifinals, Sandy's father sees it as a harbinger of things to come.
In December that year Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, and life changes dramatically for Sandy's family. They are suddenly confined in certain areas to 'dormitories' and must respect a curfew put upon them by the Canadian government. When Sandy's father, a doctor, is taken from the family to a place where he is deemed essential, the family is forced to move to an internment camp. It is hard for the children to understand why their lives have taken such a bad turn. Life in the camp is no piece of cake. Cruel and uncompromising, it offers little hope that things will change for Sandy and his family. The challenges of spending any time with his father are fraught with misunderstanding and fear.
This graphic novel is based on real events for the Japanese Canadian community and the Asahi baseball team (which was disbanded that year). Their lives are changed forever, and families faced lasting repercussions for their treatment and the time spent in the camps. There are other stories of how baseball made a difference for many living there. Emotional and telling, these are stories that need to be shared in classrooms. Look for They Called Us Enemy (Top Shelf, 2019) and Displacement (First Second, 2020) to offer middle grade readers.
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