Ellen Schwartz (1)Resenhas

Abby's birds is a cute story about the passing down of the art of origami from one generation to the next. While the story was sweet and a glimpse into Chinese tradition, the illustrations are what captivated me. The theme of the book is centered around origami and Sima Elizabeth Shefrin used origami in a collage fashion to illustrate the story . Every texture in the illustration is created with different patterns of origami paper .

This book is intended for kids, but that intention comes from big-hearted adults who are desperate to teach. The result? The publication has tons of heavy nonfiction crap preceding the actual novel. And while the characters are moving and well drawn, the storytelling gets heavyhanded at points. I, and adults, have been reading it for two years and still haven't gotten beyond their first couple days of internment.

This was the story of a Japanese family sent to an internment camp in WWII America. I was familiar with the history, and time period, but it was so different reading this story. I would recommend it for history buffs of all ages.

The author's latest novel, Heart of a Champion, tells the story of Vancouver's historic team of Japanese Canadian baseball players.

Heart of a Champion deftly weaves a story of young Japanese-Canadian baseball players and the horrifying treatment of people of Japanese descent by the Canadian government during WWII. The book explores racism and disability -- hefty topics that are handled well and contrast with the more inspirational theme of the power of sports. This is a touching book, and it's also an incredibly important book about a shameful moment in Canada's history.

Heart of a champion is a great story about an 11 year old boy in an internment camp and of course baseball. It's a great story of hope and keeping faith in even dark times.

This is a lovely little book. It looks to be meant for middle grade readers. Set in Canada, and told from the point of view of an 11 year old boy, it's about what it was like to be a Japanese-Canadian during WWII, to be suspected of being an enemy and sent away from home. The author did a great job balancing those who acted with prejudice with people who were kind and considerate. This story is also about persistence and optimism, even in the face of great injustice, and baseball. I enjoyed it very much.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised by Heart of a Champion by Ellen Schwartz. The book is well written in plain language that would be easy to understand for younger readers but at the same time, can keep more mature readers interested. (I read it in one sitting and didn't want to stop) Baseball, or more specifically, a love of the game of baseball, is the primary motivation in the story that manages to tell of truly dark time. Although most of the true horrors of internment camps are glazed over, there is still enough mentioned to see that it wasn't a good time in history.

I think many people are desensitized to societal injustices today and Heart of a Champion does a good job of putting those abstract terms into a good visual representation.

I received an advance copy of Heart of a Champion by Ellen Schwartz in exchange for an unbiased review. This book is written for a young adult audience and it was very well written. The story is set in Canada during WW II with the main characters are Canadian citizens of Japanese descent. As WWII progressed, the citizens with Japanese background began to quickly lose their rights, and then were eventually sent to internment camps. The author managed to use a historical event with a tough topic in a way that would still interest young adults. We were still able to experience the harsh reality they lived in, but saw the hope in their lives while the children built a baseball field, and brought hope to all of their families.
I have visited Manzanar, a location of a former Japanese internment camp. At that National Historic Site, the harshness of how citizens of the United States were forced to live was brought to life for me. This book did an excellent job representing those internment camps. This book can easily be used as part of a history curriculum for middle school students. It would hold their interest, without being inappropriately graphic, and give a strong understanding of how rights can be stripped from citizens of a country so easily.

This was a well written book with a great story. Kenny has a great heart and through this story, several positive themes are presented: perseverance, finding hope when there doesn't seem to be any hope, forgiveness, and sticking together as a family even during tough times. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.

Even as an adult, I loved this story!

This book told the story of a Japanese family living in Canada during the time of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Kenny, a young boy, always looked up to his brother Mickey, a great baseball player. Mickey played on the Asahi baseball team and was well known around town. Despite the fact that the boy's father was a war veteran, this Japanese family couldn't escape the discrimination Japanese faced after the bombing and the start of the war.As the story continues, the family was forced to live in an internment camp. That is where Kenny's courage and leadership emerge, and the reader truly realizes Kenny has the heart of a champion.

This story of a Canadian family sent to a WWII internment camp for people of Japanese heritage is well-titled - there is a lot of heart in the experience of Kenny and his family as they stoically endure poor treatment from the racism of the ignorant locals and officials.

Heart of a Champion
by Ellen Schwartz
2016

A LibraryThing Early Reviewers book.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor. War was declared between Japan and Canada. Not long after, Japanese Canadians on the West Coast were sent to internment camps, since they were "Enemy Aliens". In this book, the story of a Japanese Canadian family is told through their relationship with baseball. It is baseball that shapes the dreams of the two boys in the family, and baseball, in the end, that pulls the family and the entire internment camp together as a means of survival.

This is a well written and researched young adult piece of historical fiction. I knew it did it's job when I was raging at the universe that Canada, that bright county up North, had also participated in the imprisoning of it's citizens with Japanese blood. Evil and hatred knows no bounds, I guess.
Never again.

3 1/2 stars.½

A marvelous story about a very troubling time in history. Fourth grader, Kenny (Kenji) Sakamoto, is part of a close knit Japanese community in Vancouver, Canada on Powell Street. His brother, Mickey, is a star baseball player on the Asahi baseball team. Life is good and Kenny looks forward to being a baseball player too. Unfortunately, in December 1941, life changed for everyone, but especially citizens of Japanese descent. Ms. Schwartz tells the story through Kenny's eyes. This is a story that needs to be told. It's a moving tribute to people who endured through that time.

Such a heartwarming story told alongside the history of Japanese internment camps during WWII. The heart of the story is a loving family, each with their strengths and weaknesses, going through horrific and challenging experiences. I highly recommend this book for young people as it is not only a great story, but it includes a part of history that unfortunately isn't always included in WWII curriculum, but should be.

Enjoyed this so much that I purchased two extra copies to add to our school library because we have very few fictional books that talk about the Japanese internment of 1941. Very recommened.

This book incorporated dealing with prejudices, forgiveness, healing, family dynamics and learning. Although in the children's section and my boys enjoyed the baseball, the action, and the interaction of the kids standing up against a bully, I enjoyed it as well.

Schwartz developed a family hurt by past mistakes and protected themselves by hiding and control. A second chance was offered, to make things right and the reader takes a roller-coaster ride wondering if all would be well and if anything can touch the grandfather's heart of stone.

Worthwhile read. Realistic look at life during Jackie Robinson's Rookie of the year.

A very real and touching account of the injustice of Japanese internment in Canada during the Second World War, and how a young boy's perseverance inspired his, and other, families to have hope. Kenny's ambition to become an Asahi baseball player like his older brother helps to heal wounds and the despair felt in the abysmal internment camp he is forced to live in. A recommended read that will be shared with my elementary school students.

Though this book is clearly written for a pre-teen age bracket, I still found it deeply moving and a fabulous introduction to historical fiction and Canadian history.

Centering around the Sakamoto family, a Japanese-Canadian family living in Vancouver in 1941, the plot is focused particularly on the 10-year-old middle child, Kenny. For a book for younger children, it was a surprisingly sophisticated look at a very dark time in Canada's history. I had to stop several times as the rights of Japanese-Canadians, even ones born in Canada like Kenny's family and schoolmates, are revoked and they are eventually sent to an internment camp.

Heart of a Champion has a simple plot involving Kenny's love of baseball and that served as a strong theme for the book. The characters are simple as the perspective is heavily Kenny's, so there are petulant bullies and confusing adults, but that is part of the charm. Schwartz managed to capture the mindset of Kenny perfectly - he's a compelling mix of the naive bravery of childhood and the sad reality of their situation.

I also really liked that the Sakamoto family's closest friends were the Bernsteins, a Jewish family that had fled Europe a few years before. The closeness between their families adds a few welcome dimensions; the friendships are heartwarming and the parallels in minority experience aren't missed.

All in all, I'd recommend this book to anyone, of any age.

**I received this book from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers giveaway for an honest review.**

When I was in school, Japanese internment camps received only a passing mention. Such a shameful part of Canadian history deserves more attention.

Heart of a Champion introduces the topic in a gentle, understandable way for middle grade readers. The cover is a little misleading, as it looks like a book focused on baseball, while I found the centre of the story was the difficulties facing Japanese families living in Vancouver during WWII. We see the injustices start small (school teasing, banning Japanese language schools), then grow to tearing families apart and forcing them out of their homes and into ill-equipped camps. The heartbreak is real but presented in an age-appropriate way

I especially appreciated how the book illustrated not only the destructiiveness of racism, but also the positive power of different cultures working together. The Asahi baseball team was a bridge that connected the Japanese and caucasian communities. Similarly, Kenny's Jewish neighbours were good friends who went out of their way to support Kenny's family.

I found the ending a little too positive, but some may find it hopeful. A good conversation starter for families

I received this book as part of the LibraryThing early reviewer giveaway.

Through the story of Kenny (Kenji in Japanese), the book offers a introduction to WWII Japanese Internment camps in Canada. Many American students (especially the audience for this book) are familiar with the Japanese Internment that took place in the US, but I'm sure they don't often think of Canada (our allies in the war) as having put into place their own internment camps for Japanese Canadians. This book also introduces the history of the Asahi baseball club which was made up of Japanese Canadian ball players and helped bring together Caucasian Canadians and Japanese Canadians to root for a common team.

Kenny's family lives in Canada in the 1940s and his brother Mickey plays for the Asahis. As WWII progresses Kenny's father is the first to be relocated to a work camp. Soon, Kenny's mother, brother and sister are taken to a Japanese Internment camp with other Japanese Canadians across the country.

The history of the war, Japanese Canadian Internment and the Asahi Baseball Club sets a backdrop for a story that's ultimately about not giving up no matter how dire the circumstances. Kenny's perseverance doesn't change the horrible treatment of the Japanese Canadians during that time, but it does show how many people like Kenny worked during that time to help make things a little better for people stuck in the same poor circumstances.

This would be a great book to read as a class and open up a discussion about WWII and how people of Japanese decent who lived in other countries aside from America were treated during that time. It's also a great book for tweens that like sports book, but want (or need for class) to read historical fiction.

This was a very enjoyable read about a topic that I knew quite a bit about (internment of Japanese Canadians during WWII) and another (the Vancouver Asahi baseball team) that I wasn't familiar with. The author took pains to be historically accurate and I loved the context she provided about 1930/40s Vancouver.

I found that the interplay between the Jewish and Japanese neighbours and friends added to the story. While the impact of the government policy on families and the communities is clear, as is the resiliency of the victims of this policy, this is all woven into the story of Kenny coming into maturity and fitness after a lifetime of being told he couldn't do things because of a possible heart condition.

This would be a good book to read aloud and discuss with young readers.

I think it's important that students realize that Canada and the United States at interment camps and did unflattering things to innocent people out of fear based on one's heritage/ethnicity during World War II. This information was left out of my history books in high school. The book itself is a nice, easy read for my students but I felt there was a lot pages dedicated to the set up and not so much plot. You didn't really feel like the family missed their father, which I think affected the impact of the ending when he did return. I think the characters, with the exception of Kenny, could have been more developed.

The internment of Japanese-Canadians during World War II forms the backdrop to this middle-grade novel that's more about family and perseverance.

Nine-year-old Kenny (Kenjo) Sakamoto lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with his father, a World War I veteran who owns a camera shop, his homemaker mother (the only family member not born in Canada), a younger sister, Sally, and an older brother, 16-year-old Mickey (Mitsuo), a baseball star. Mickey plays for the Vancouver Asahi, a (real) Japanese-Canadian baseball team that won the Pacific Northwest League championship from 1937 through 1941. Kenny emulates his older brother, but a supposed heart murmur forces him to pursue his dream to play baseball in secret.

The book starts in early September 1941, just after the Asahi win their last championship. Kenny gets into a fight in school when he defends his classmate Susana when she is called a Kraut by another boy. Susana and her family, best friends with the Sakamotos, are Jewish, and fled Germany when the Nazis took over. The parallels will be obvious to most readers. Already, Canadian citizens of Japanese descent have to carry identity cards

Everything changes for the Sakamotos when Japan bombs Pearl Harbor. Keith, the same boy who fought Kenny earlier calls him a dirty Jap, and teacher Miss Morfitt uses the incident as an opportunity to show how nearly all the Japanese students in the class were born in Canada, just as nearly all of the the non-Japanese students were, except for Susana - and Keith (born in Ireland). But this is followed by the closure of Kenny's Japanese language school and Sally's odori dancing school.


Further humiliations, such as registration as an enemy alien, turning off the light in the World War I Japanese Canadian memorial, and a curfew, lead to more serious repercussions. Kenny's father must close his business, as no one of Japanese descent can possess a car, camera, radio equipment, or firearms. Soon after, he is sent to a work camp, and later, the rest of the family into internment.

Conditions at the camp are dismal, but Kenny discovers strengths he didn't know he had. With the support of a sympathetic Mountie, he takes on a project that ultimately unites the exiles.

Other books for children have been written on this subject (baseball in the internment camps), but author Ellen Schwartz has created characters the reader will really care about. The book is appropriately aimed at grades 4-6, ages 9-12

© Amanda Pape - 2016

[I received a hardbound copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. It will be added to my university library's collection.]½

Love of family and baseball are the heart of this historical fiction story. It takes place in Canada starting prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and continues through its aftermath, the repercussions on the Japanese Canadian population. Asahi baseball team members were held in high esteem by baseball fans in Canada, and Mickey is a star player. Mickey's brother Kenny is not allowed to participate in much physical activities because of the belief he has a heart murmur. Kenny has convinced Mickey to help him learn to play baseball without their parents knowing. At this point the war is background. But the life changes drastically after Pearl Harbor. First their father is sent away and then the entire family must go.
The pacing of the book is just perfect. The reader is almost halfway through the book before the fathers are sent away. We have gotten to know Sakamoto family and their life well. How each member of the family reacts to the upheaval of their lives, though not predictable, are true to their characters. The difficulties of the internment are there but so is the resilience of some of the residents. The ending is upbeat though not unduly so, the family remains in the internment camp.