Sandy Saito isn’t much concerned with current events, except how his beloved local Vancouver Asahi baseball team is doing. But after the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, current events come barging down the Saito family’s door. First, their radio, camera, and car are taken away since the family is of Japanese heritage. Then, his physician father is taken to help “where he is most needed,” and finally, Sandy, his little brother Ty, and his mom are taken to an internment camp deep in the wilderness where they have to make do with very little and the one bright spot is baseball.

This historical fiction graphic novel is based on real experiences but the back matter doesn’t mention any one person specifically. There are some pages with further information on what happened to Japanese Canadians and Japanese Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and about the Japanese baseball leagues before then and the role baseball played in internment camps. There have been more and more books bringing awareness to the injustices Japanese Americans faced on the West coast during WWII, but this is the first I’ve read or even heard of about the experiences of Japanese Canadians. I did not know till reading this that the Canadians also interred West Coast citizens of Japanese heritage. It is important that these injustices are talked about so the people who suffered are honored and that the past doesn’t repeat itself. I wish this had been in color, but the cream and black do help give more of a historic feel to the graphic novel. It was interesting to learn about the historic Asahi team and how they inspired people. Definitely a historical fiction graphic novel recommended for middle grade library shelves.

Notes on content [based on the ARC]: No language issues. No sexual content. Some illnesses, injuries, and deaths mentioned (most about patients of Sandy’s father) but absolutely nothing graphic or disturbing on page, the worst thing on page is some coughing and the poor conditions of the housing in the internment camp.

I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very well written graphic novel sharing the perspective of a young Japanese Canadian boy, Sandy, following the events of Pearl Harbor. I'm Japanese American, and my own family members were sent to the camps in the United States during this period of time. But I never realized that Japanese Canadians were also sent to internment camps. I had mistakenly thought that the mistreatment of those of Japanese descent was American only.

So while I am familiar with the history, learning about it in Canada was something new. The hardships in the camps, while similar, had differences too. My family members were sent to the Gila River camp in Arizona. They had to deal with extreme heat in the summers. Sandy's family in Canada, and the others at their camp, had to deal with the extreme cold in the winters.

I recommend this book for young readers. There is a lot of empathy woven into the storyline. I love how baseball plays such a pivotal role in all of this. How it unites people who love the sport no matter what situation they are in.

This book was beautifully done. The delivery of a part of history was well done. I can see the target market really enjoying the book. If an individual goes into the book not knowing anything about the actual history this book is a great way for readers to have some idea about it. It's relatable. The graphics of it was really well done. The dad reminded me of Atticus Finch.

I received a gifted copy of Stealing Home by J. Torres and David Namisato from Kids Can Press in exchange for an honest review.

I did not learn about the WWII Japanese internment camps in the US and Canada until well into my high school years. There were not a lot of literature - fiction or otherwise - that brought this part of history to my attention. In the past few years, I have noticed an increase in stories that focus on what happened to thousands of Japanese Americans and Japanese Canadians during WWII. Stealing Home is the first middle grade graphic novel that I have read that tells the story of a young Japanese Canadian boy during these times. It was a simple yet effective read that will allow middle grade readers to learn about this part of Canadian history and to empathize with Sandy as he and his family lose their rights, their belongings and their homes. It will allow for discussion into this injustice at home that was happening to the Japanese Canadians.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Kids Can Press for the chance to read and review this book.

I gave this book 5 stars. It is a short Graphic novel about the interment camps in the Us and Canada. This book took place right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It goes through a little boys life for the first year of interment camp and how his family ended up there.

The pictures were great and the information and how it was told was right on.

This book is fast and simple to read and an easy way for children to learn history.

This was very similar to George Takei's They Called Us Enemies in terms of history and graphics (the writer did research the book while writing this). It is highly reminiscent to WWII history and a story of resilience amidst adversity and discrimination.

Thank you #NetGalley and Kids Can Press for giving me the opportunity to read this.

#StealingHome

I enjoy graphic novels like this that have a story set in an important historic time especially this one based in Canada which is a little bit different to other famous ones set in the US Japanese internment camps. I think many people don't even know that this was happening in Canada and where they were being sent but they did eventually get taken from the West Coast to ghost towns further inland which use to be mining centres.
This one has a bit of a different focus in that it has a more baseball focused theme at times as that is what the main character loves more than anything in life. It was an interesting way to tell the story and I enjoyed it.
Where this book is let down is that I feel like the ending is very vague and abrupt where I thought they could have included a more thorough ending that showed the end of the war.

Sandy loves baseball. He and his father play whenever his father has time. On December 7, 1941, the United States is bombed by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. That event changed the life of Sandy, his family and all the Japanese in the U.S. and Canada. This story shows how that event effects each of his family members. They are forced to live in a Japanese internment camp, often away from his papa. Sandy just wants to play baseball. After healing from tuberculosis, Sandy learns that a baseball diamond has been erected in the camp. While it wasn’t like watching the Asahi players at home, it was still an escape from their worries for a couple of hours.

This book is very informative. It shows what occurred in 1942 to those with Japanese heritage. It portrays the stress to the parents and the tension the grew within the family. The authors show that moving to the internment camp was like being in a prison for those who could not leave. The book is well written. It is written as a graphic novel and easy to read. The illustrations are black and white which serves to enhance the seriousness of the subject matter.


I received an ARC from Kids Can Press through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily submitting this review and am under no obligation to do so.

Stealing Home joins the ranks of several recent graphic novels about the internment of people of Japanese ancestry in North America during World War II. This title is unique in a couple of ways: it takes place in Canada and it uses baseball as a tie-in. It could easily be paired with the picture book, "Baseball Saved Us". Although this is for the same age reader as George Takei's "They Called Us Enemies", because it's fiction, it isn't quite as impactful as that story. Still, a good addition to the growing body of literature about this shameful historical event.

A necessary book telling a story from Japanese internment in Canada during World War II. This book moved along quickly, but still conveyed the emotion of the situation well. We need more books on the Japanese experience during WWII, so I am glad for this one.

Stealing Home by J. Torres was about a young boy's struggle to grow up during WWII while being displaced to a Japanese internment camp after the attack at Pearl Harbor. Sandy Saito has a passion for baseball and misses his absent father who is forced to be elsewhere for the duration of the war.

This graphic novel was a very good introduction to the historic reality of the Japanese internment camps for a middle grade level. It was a coming of age story that was a bit about baseball without being too much about baseball, and captured a basic understanding of what young children of Japanese descent may have experienced during this forced incarceration that happened across North America in the 1940's.

Stealing Home was reminiscent obviously in subject matter but also a bit in illustration style of They Called Us Enemy by George Takei but again, Stealing Home is directed towards a middle grade audience.

Thank you to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. I would recommend this book for middle grade classrooms and a must read for history if homeschooling.

Book: Stealing Homes
Author: J. Torres
Illustrator: David Namisato,
Publication date: 05 October 2021
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When a boy struggles after moving to a Japanese internment camp during WWII, baseball shows him another way to approach life. Sandy Saito is a happy boy who reads comic books and is obsessed with baseball --- especially the Asahi team, the pride of his Japanese Canadian community. But when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, his life, like that of every other North American of Japanese descent, changes forever. His family is forced to move to a remote internment camp, and his father must spend months away from them. Sandy, his mother and his brother cope as best they can with the difficulties at the camp. Over time, Sandy comes to realize that life is a lot like baseball. It's about dealing with whatever is thrown at you, however you can. And it's about finding your way home.
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🌿Beautifully illustrated by David Namisato, the artworks capture the essence of the story perfectly.

🌿The book is heartbreaking yet hopeful. Since it's set in a period during the WWII it definitely cannot be something happy but the story is not completely dark. In spite of going through many dark phases, the characters remain hopeful and try to do their best.

🌿Another major theme is the bond between a family. Sandy loves his parents but when his father have to leave them and move away to a place where he is needed the most, Sandy blames himself for it. By the end of the book both of them are successful in mending their relationship. So, no matter what the situation, having someone together always bring a ray of hope.

🌿Everytime I read a book about World War it breaks my heart but at the same time it is very important to educate ourselves and learn.

🌿A must read graphic novel.

#StealingHome #NetGalley.

It was so an emotional and heartwarming Graphic novel. I swear i felt the immense misery and grief.

It was written in the timeline of World war II after the Japanese attack pearl harbor. I didn't know enough about this attack but I got to know about it here. It affected many lives during that time. People especially Japanese had to go through the injustice, They were kept in a sanatorium.

This Highlights a story of a boy named Sandy saito Who loves to stay with his family, Who loves to play baseball with his father who by profession is a doctor and supports Ashai Team with heart. Baseball holds a significance in his life. But due to war his dad had had to work for too long and stays away from them.
This book emotionally describes the aloofness of saito from his dad and his passion.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me an early copy of this Graphic novel.

'Stealing Home' traces the life of a little Japanese boy Sandy Saito and the experiences he had in a World War II Japanese Internment Camp. What I absolutely loved the way author J. Torres has presented the story in beautiful and realistic manner. His mastery over writing and narration is evident by the way he has portrayed the true picture of racial discrimination and hatred for asian people. David Namisato's illustrations has made the story alive. The beauty of this work lies in the way the story makes the reader feel connected at a personal level. The traumatic experiences of sandy, his fathers faith and determination to do good even at the coast of his safety, his mothers hard attempts to appear strong to motivate her child though as a reader we know how much she is suffering and crying from inside, all these subtle aspects will make you cry.

I have absolutely loved the story and would highly recommend you to go through it.

Happy Reading

children's graphic historical fiction (Japanese-Canadian family from Vancouver is sent to a prison camp after the attack on Pearl Harbor, but reclaim some of what they lost through baseball).

*reviewed from uncorrected e-galley via netgalley*

Very readable and relatable history lesson for kids, should have no problem finding an audience. I've read other children's graphic fiction books on this topic before but this is the first one that takes place in British Columbia (a lesser-known history).

Also recommended: Kiku Hughes' Displacement, and George Takei's They Called Us Enemy.

I enjoyed this graphic novel. I liked that it was set in Canada rather than the USA. Took this aspect of Canadian history that is terrible and made it accessible. We so often talk about the USA and what they did, but we did it too.

The story was so tragic and heartbreaking. I loved how the people in the Japanese community in the camps took baseball, something they loved and brought it with them to connect.

This is an enlightening middle grade graphic novel about events that happened during WWII to Japanese people. I never knew that something similar to what happened to Japanese-Americans also happened in Canada, so I appreciate the author and illustrator chose this as the focus for the graphic novel.

I really love the ties to baseball and how it was a symbol of hope for the Japanese-Canadians in the internment camps. The artwork lends itself well to the story also, keeping everything simple and straightforward to make for an easy reading experience for younger readers.

My only issue is with the ending. I like that it ends on a hopeful note since it's for younger readers, but I felt like it was abrupt and didn't tell the whole story of what happened with the Japanese-Canadians. The afterword in the back by Susan Aihoshi gives more vital information, but I wonder how many kids read afterwords or historical notes.

Overall, this graphic novel does a good job bringing to light some of the awful things that happened during WWII that have often been hidden from history while keeping a hopeful tone throughout the book.

The pacing of this was slow and the art style simple but the message is shared packed a punch! My heart broke for the characters and the ending made my heart sing.

Thank you!

This was an incredibly thought-provoking read that has stayed with me after I finished the book. Japanese internment camps are something I’ve heard mentioned before but never really been told much detail about, so I found this a good introduction to that part of North American history.

Telling the story through the eyes of Sandy really added a layer of innocence to it that makes it all the more heartbreaking and outrageous, and I think it was excellently done. Sandy and his family were people you could completely empathise with and their struggles came across and very human and were well articulated for a young audience.

The only reason I didn’t give this five stars is because it feels a little incomplete to me. It feels like there should be another few pages at the end, and a bit more detail in the middle to make it a fully fledged story. At times it felt a bit too much like the authors were reciting their research without and emotion, and I would have liked to see more of Sandy’s family’s experience in the interment camp.

Overall I think this is a very good book that provides an age-appropriate look into this part of history without sugar coating anything. Making baseball the central focus will definitely help to engage younger readers, but doesn’t distract from the main points of the story

...
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me this advanced copy of this book, and my legitimate thanks to the author, for giving me the opportunity to read his book.

When a boy struggles after moving to a Japanese internment camp during WWII, baseball shows him another way to approach life. Sandy Saito is a happy boy who reads comic books and is obsessed with baseball --- especially the Asahi team, the pride of his Japanese Canadian community. But when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, his life, like that of every other North American of Japanese descent, changes forever.

What a beautiful book I just read, I finished it just today in the early morning and I loved it, I loved learning more about the history of the people affected around the world during the war conflicts; since I can know more about the history of the world. Unfortunately, all those people of ethnic origin were mistreated, whether they were Jews, Germans or even Japanese, simply because they were the enemy.
4.5