Heart of a Champion
Ten-year-old Kenny Sakamoto wants to be just like his older brother Mickey, who at age sixteen is a star on the Asahi baseball team in Vancouver, Canada. But Kenny has never played baseball. When he was little he had rheumatic fever, which his doctor feels might have weakened his heart. Kenny isn’t allowed any physical activity, and his parents worry constantly about his health. Now that he is of age to try-out for the Clovers, a younger version of the Asahi club, Kenny convinces Mickey to teach him baseball in secret. After only one practice, their world is turned upside-down when Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, and the Canadian government begins to consider Japanese-Canadian citizens as “enemy aliens.”
The transformation of Kenny from weak little brother to a leader that other children (and adults) follow is smooth, believable and inspiring. Through his eyes, young readers will learn about an important part of Canadian history that isn’t often taught: the movement of Japanese-Canadian citizens to work camps and internment camps and the confiscation of possessions and businesses. Although Kenny, Mickey, and many in the Japanese-Canadian community love baseball, this is not a sports novel with the requisite play-by-play of ball games. Heart of a Champion is historical fiction, a well-crafted novel about believable characters responding to difficult historical events. For ages 9-12.
