Additional information
by Marissa Moss (Author), Yuko Shimizu (Illustrator)
Author Marissa Moss and illustrator Yuko Shimizu's Barbed Wire Baseball is a picture book about a true story set in a Japanese American internment camp in World War II.
A California Book Award Gold Medal WinnerCalifornia Reading Association's Eureka! Nonfiction Children's Book Awards - HONOR
Notable Children's Books from ALSC 2014 As a young boy, Kenichi Zenimura (Zeni) wanted to be a baseball player, even though everyone told him he was too small. He grew up to become a successful athlete, playing with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. But when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, Zeni and his family were sent to one of several internment camps established in the U.S. for people of Japanese ancestry. Zeni brought the game of baseball to the camp, along with a sense of hope, and became known as the "Father of Japanese American Baseball." "Moss is a skilled author of historical narrative nonfiction for young readers; her tale is both well researched and well told. But it's the visually stunning, sensitive illustrations by the hugely talented Shimizu that make the book a standout." --New York Times Book Review "Shimizu's Japanese brush and ink illustrations, digitally layered with dusty colors suggestive of the arid relocation camp, are a visual feast, from the patterned swirls of battleship steam and desert dust, to the series of depictions of Zenimura in motion, to the rhythmic composition of the female detainees stitching the potato-sack uniforms." --Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Author Biography
Marissa Moss has written and illustrated many books for children, including the popular Amelia's Notebook series, as well as Nurse, Soldier, Spy and A Soldier's Secret. She lives in Berkeley, California.
Yuko Shimizu is an illustrator and comics artist best known for the cover of the graphic novel adaptation of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: The Dream Hunters. She lives in New York City.
Number of Pages: 48
Dimensions: 0.5 x 11.1 x 9.3 IN
Illustrated: Yes
Publication Date: April 09, 2013
Award: Cybils (2013)
Award: Beehive Awards (2015)
Award: South Carolina Childrens, Junior and Young Adult Book Award (2015)
Accelerated Reader:
Quiz Name: Barbed Wire Baseball
Interest Level: Lower Grades, K-3
Reading Level: 4.5
Point Value: 0.5
