I got to say I usually just pick graphic novels because I know it’s going to be a quick read, but this was a deep and dark read that I wasn’t expecting

In a way, it reminded me of the march series that is also a graphic novel touching on subjects that are uncomfortable, but in a way, where they can be ready easily and understood by many people

This graphic novel has been sitting with me for a while. It follows the story of Sandy Saito, a Japanese Canadian baseball-loving kid, during WWII. On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was bombed. As an American, I understand the impact that had on the lives of many innocent Japanese-Americans; however, our history books did not cover the experiences of Japanese Canadians. I am embarrassed to admit that I did not considered how it would affect Japanese families living in our bordering nations. For that reason alone, this book is a must-read. But more than that, it is a story about coping with hardship, about friends and family, and about how sports can build a community. Sandy’s life was turned upside down when he was torn away from his father to go live in an internment camp with his family; playing baseball with some of the other boys from his Vancouver Asahi team was his only escape and way to cope with all that was happening around him. This was an emotional but inspiring read. The target audience is middle school-age readers because of its accessibility, but it can be easily enjoyed by teens and adults alike. It is a great introduction to such a devastating period in history, told through the eyes of a young boy who had to face the consequences of other adults.

In a personal interview with author J. Torres, he explained that as a young man he was not aware of Canada’s response to the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was not a subject taught in schools, so it came to him as a surprise that there were Japanese internment camps situated in this country. He knew that this was a story he wanted to tell and spent over a decade thinking about how he could tell it for young readers before realizing that family dynamics intertwining with history was the natural direction for his tale. “There are a lot of stories that never got told about Canadians, especially Asian Canadians,” and the time to tell them is now, especially when the world is witnessing repeats of this type of historical response and behavior. Torres stated several times that if we still haven’t learned it is obviously because we don’t know how this affects people. This is why this story is so important to him and to illustrator David Namisato.

The story is told through the eyes of Sandy Saito, a young boy living with his family on the west coast of Canada. He enjoys reading comic books and adores baseball, following the Vancouver Asahi team* with great fervor. Their loss in the 1941 semifinals is not only devastating to the Japanese Canadian baseball fans, but it is also thought to be a bad omen. By the end of that year, the losses to Sandy and his family and friends are even more devastating. He is bewildered at the changes of perception by his former friends and neighbours, the curfews that are imposed on the Japanese Canadians after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which culminated in their removal to isolated and primitive internment camps. His parents, especially his mother, try to maintain a sense of normalcy for Sandy and his brother, but with his father, a medical doctor, sent elsewhere to where he was needed more, there is little that is predictable or stable. Based on the true experiences of Japanese Canadians and the Vancouver Asahi team, the graphic novel offers insight into how their lives were affected by government action.

While the story is based on historical research and interviews conducted by both Torres and Namisato, the Saito family members and the interment camp are composites conceived by the two creators. The story is told through the child’s point of view, both colouring and erasing some of the more troubling aspects of the camp and overall treatment of these Canadian citizens. After hearing David Suzuki, the Canadian scientist and environmental activist, speak about his initial response to his encounters in the internment camps as attending summer camp, Torres engendered the same type of experience for Sandy and the other children in the camp. There is a sense of freedom and the pleasure of baseball and other games—at least until winter makes itself known to a community housed in shacks without any insulation or conveniences. The arrival of a tuberculosis epidemic in the camp provides a turning point for the story and Sandy’s relationship with his father. The continuous thread of baseball and the idea of team efforts permeates the story and Sandy’s coming-of-age. The story leaves the reader with hope, but also with unanswered questions. While some reviewers are negative about the perceived abrupt ending, Torres explained that it was intentional, as he wanted the readers to seek out the answers to “what happened next”. In our discussion, Torres asserted that learning about other people’s stories helps with empathy and fulfils a need to emerge from one’s own little bubble where everyone else outside of the bubble is considered “the other.” While his major focus is telling an entertaining story for his readers, it is a definite bonus if he can educate and encourage reading. This was, he stated, one of his rationales for ending the story where he did.

The fact that tuberculosis in the camps was rampant was something Torres was not aware of until he began researching the history of the camps. He speculated that if he was writing the book now, with the Covid pandemic being so prevalent, he might have developed this part of the story more. Nevertheless, it is one more element that can be raised in discussions of the graphic novel in reading circles. There are so many thematic and social issues such as inclusion, differences, racism, and diversity within the story, with strong links to social studies and history lessons for Canadians and beyond. In aid of further research, the author has included a list of resources and an afterword by Canadian author Susan Aihoshi offering supplementary background information regarding interment camps.

Torres was exuberant in his praise for David Namisato’s illustrations for his story. Long-time friends, he had always wanted to work with him and had pictured Namisato’s manga art style for the project from the onset. Namisato’s captivating sepia-toned illustrations effectively capture the settings, the emotional struggles and disorientation in the faces of the characters as they navigate their new reality, and the joy of baseball. The layouts and perspectives within the panels complement and extend the story offering, again, additional discussion points. This reader, in fact, particularly enjoyed the clean and detailed art work.

I thank J. Torres very much for his time in talking with me. We discussed several other topics such as gendered reading (neither one of us agree with it, which made that a short conversation) and first-person narration. We also touched about provocative topics such as reluctant readers, cultural appropriation, and the lack of critical thinking. Happily, we were in total agreement with the importance of well written historical fiction and with encouraging people of any age to read critically and with great joy.

I highly recommend Stealing Home for baseball fans, people interested in Canadian history, World War II history, especially in North America, and for those interested in family relationships. It should be in school and public libraries everywhere as well as incorporated in classroom reading lists.

*The Asahi, a Japanese Canadian baseball club in Vancouver (1914–42) was one of the city’s most dominant amateur teams, winning multiple league titles in Vancouver and along the Northwest Coast. In 1942, the team was disbanded when its members were among the 22,000 Japanese Canadians who were interned by the federal government. The Asahi were inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003 and the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame in 2005. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/vancouver-asahi

https://noflyingnotights.com/blog/2022/03/01/stealing-home/

Similar to George Takei's They Called Us Enemies in terms of history and graphics, Stealing Home is about Sandy Saito, the oldest son of a doctor who is forced to a Canadian Relocation Camps after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. I honestly didn't know that Canada had the same big mistake as the US until this book.

While word dense at times, the story does a good job of telling the story in a way that both imparts the importance and gravity of these events while not freaking out young readers.

A historical graphic novel for middle school aged children about how Japanese-Canadians were forced into Relocation Camps after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. I had no idea that Canadians followed the U.S. in this shameful practice of forcing these people out of their homes and into shacks in abandoned ghost towns in middle of nowhere.

The story is written from the perspective of Sandy Saito, the oldest son of a doctor. His father is always busy and has little time to play catch with his sons. Sandy's world revolves around baseball and his family, even after being moved to the camps. Torres capably handles the story in such a way that kids can understand what happened without getting scared or freaked out. The art is very good as well.

I enjoyed this historical fiction middle grade graphic novel about a family who is put into an internment camp during World War II. All Sandy wants to do is watch baseball and play baseball with his dad. But his dad is a doctor. And they are Japanese. So when Pearl Harbor is attacked, his dad is interred to use his medical skills. Then the rest of the family is interred because Canada was as stupid as the United States was and thought that every Asian person was a spy. 🙄 Sandy learns a lot during this time and grows up a lot. The story is told in a way that middle graders can understand though it's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of racism against Asians.

From 1919 to 1940, the Asahi, an all Japanese baseball team in the Vancouver Metro area of British Columbia, won 10 city championships. The renowned team was admired by sports enthusiasts from all backgrounds. To their Japanese fans, who dealt with racism on a daily basis, the team was a profound symbol proving they were equal to everyone else. When the team didn't make the semifinals in 1941, it was considered a bad omen.

This book, written from the perspective of a Sandy Saito, a young Japanese boy, takes us through the experiences of his family and their community in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.

Prior to the attack, the Vancouver Japanese community was a busy one. Sandy was pretty much an ordinary boy just like many other boys his age.

His relationship with his father was strong. He was a doctor who had a private practice because he could only work in oriental hospitals. Sandy and his father played catch and went to baseball games together, the only place his reserved father let go of his emotions. Sandy, his younger brother Ty, and his parents, had a good life.

After 1941 everything changed.

In spite of their teacher's pleas for her students to remain friends, racism took hold at school. At home, as his mother prepared the house for war, it seemed to be as much to keep them safe from what was to come for them as it was from external forces. One day Sandy, his little brother, Ty, and their friends went to the park to play baseball with their peers who they always played with. They were set upon, called names and had rocks thrown at them.

Throughout 1942 the lives of Japanese Canadians became more and more constrained. Radios, cameras and cars were confiscated. As life became more stressful, Sandy watched his mother become sad and his father become increasingly irritable. In order to do his job, Sandy's father ended up working more and more. He often had to break curfew and this created conflict between the parents. After one such argument, when his father made his mother cry, Sandy wished his father wouldn't come home.

Shortly afterwards the RCMP arrived at their door with a note saying their father had been sent to "where he was needed the most." The rest of the family had to be ready to leave in 48 hours. The children thought they were going to be with their father, but after a long train ride and then a journey in a freezing cold truck, they ended at a camp in a three room shack. They had to use an outhouse, get water from a tap, and eat strange food in a mess house. Even worse, they discovered that their Father was at a different camp.

As much as Sandy missed his father, his guilt about wishing he wouldn't come home ate away at him. Even as adults attempted to reassure children that everything was temporary, he began to realize that nothing would ever be the same again.

Luckily they arrived at the camp during summer vacation. Children found joy swimming in the lake as though it was just summer camp.

Adults on the other hand worried how they would get through the winter. The shacks had no insulation, not even tarpaper, to keep the cold wind out.

Then things got worse. Another family with a small child and a screaming baby moved into their cabin. The boy's mother made them welcome, but Sandy found the crowded conditions and the noise made life intolerable.

Thankfully, baseball came to the camp. It wasn't the same as a game at a stadium, but they got to watch older boys play. Some of them were even from the Asahi team. Then Sandy's father returned to work at the sanitarium they were building in the community. He still wasn't around to play catch because he had to be, "where he is needed most."

Then the boys' mother and Sandy came down with TB. Only after Sandy almost died trying to get help for her, did his father realize that his family is as important as his patients. When Sandy was finally released from the hospital, he found that the community had embraced baseball in a significant way. I really like how the sacredness of it is portrayed in the last panels of the book.

I appreciate how this narrative shows readers both the collective and personal experiences of the Japanese community during their internment. David Namisato's sepia toned artwork is perfect for capturing the historical essence of the times. It's important to pay close attention to the details. I appreciate how much emotional nuances he depicts in the relationships between the different characters. I like how the images reveal the difference between the younger and older generations understanding of the events of the times.

Over time I have read a number of books about treatment of the Japanese during the war both here in Canada and in the United States. Last summer my partner and I explored museums an hour's drive from our home. They focused, at least in part, on the internment and how people were integrated into the different communities afterwards. What I've learned is that no matter how many books I've read, the individual stories, like this one, are all important. It's the juxtaposition of the Asahi Baseball team in the context of the Japanese Internment that make this one unique.

The back matter of the book contains all kinds of additional material by Susan Aihoshi. Some of it focuses on family history. Other sections address Asian immigration and the racist events in Vancouver.

I would probably purchase a number of copies of this book if I was still working in the library. The format ensures that young readers will eagerly learn more about this aspect of our history.

If you are interested, you might enjoy watching the NFB documentary, Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Baseball Story.

I easily finished this graphic novel in one sitting right before going to sleep and then had sad dreams all night. White Europeans often forget, I think, that it wasn't just Jewish people in Nazi Europe that were in camps - it happened all over the world and still happens today. This story is set just after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, and seeing this little family have everything stripped away from them and be sent away into the remote wilderness to be forgotten was just brutal.

Baseball ties this story together, Sandy's love of the sport is linked to a real Japanese team - Vancouver's Asahi baseball team. They won many titles and were extremely popular, but this all changed after Pearl Harbour, with many members of the team ending up in camps themselves. The team never played again.

I did feel that this story ended a little abruptly, and we never got to find out if or when Sandy and his family left the camps and what life was like after. This story was pulled from the author's own experience, as her entire family was forced to leave British Columbia and later moved to Toronto. This almost forgotten piece of history should be remembered.

This graphic novel was a really fascinating story about the life of Japanese Canadians sent to internment camps in WW2. It follows a Japanese boy fascinated by baseball and the local all-Japanese baseball team. Unfortunately, when they are all sent to internment camps, the team disbands and many Japanese people loose their savings, belongings, and businesses. The rest of the story is how they survive in the camps and power through.

I thought this book was incredibly important and engaging. Each moment was important and emotional. I'm glad there is a book like this to talk about the internment of Japanese Canadians because the focus is usually on Japanese Americans. Overall, this book is 5/5 stars.

I recommend everyone to read this novel, not only if you are a kid. Most of is don't realise how discrimination, bullying and the consequences of war can affect us
I will definitely give this one to my niece and all my cousins to read. The pace, the graphic imaginary and the writing were all fantastic!

This is a historical fiction graphic novel about a Japanese Canadian boy whose family is forced to move to an internment camp during World War II. The boy, Sandy, loves baseball and his local Japanese Canadian team. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, his family is subjected to discrimination and then the story starts unfolding

I would love to see more people reading this novel! It's fast, engaging, has a true subject, and totally is eye catching!

3.5 stars
This is a comic I would have read and reread when I was a bookish child in the 1970s. It’s difficult for me to know how much appeal it will hold for comic readers in 2021. The ratio of text to illustration, the pacing, and historical content are very good. Perhaps a vintage feel will serve well.

It's 1941, and Sandy Saito is a happy Japanese boy, living with his family in Canada, and a big baseball fan. He obsessively follows the Asahi team, a Japanese-Canadian baseball team, and the pride of his community. But the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor in December, and Sandy's life as he knows it is forever changed: he and his family are moved to an internment camp, and separated from their doctor father, who's placed "where he needs to be". As Sandy and his brother try to adjust to their new life, they find some comfort in their favorite sport; Sandy tries adopting the mindset of taking whatever pitch comes your way.

An emotional graphic novel, Stealing Home may be an awakening for some readers who thought that only Japanese Americans were put into internment camps; this was not the case. Canadian families were also separated more often than American families; males were often relocated to labor and POW camps. In Stealing Home, Doctor Saito was initially relocated to a camp where he could look after men at these labor camps; after being reunited his family, he continues working as a physician to the camp community. Hope and baseball intertwine throughout the story as Sandy tries to cope with his family's new life, his mother's grief, and his father's continued distance from his children. Baseball is a beacon of hope and, ultimately, the great uniter. Sandy reflects, looking back, that "Baseball did not discriminate against us. It did not impose any limits on us. It helped us forget everything that was wrong in the world, even if just for one moment in time".

Back matter by author and former internee Susan Aihoshi looks at the history of the camps, the racism Japanese Canadians endured, the Asahi, and further resources. An excellent graphic story and companion to novels like George Takei's They Called Us Enemy.

The University of Washington has excellent resources available on the Japanese Canadian internment, as does the Canadian Encyclopedia. Curio.ca offers a lesson plan on the Asahi baseball team, and you can visit the Asahi Baseball Association's website to learn more about the team.

Stealing Home is a first-round CYBILS middle grade graphic novel nominee.

This is a historical fiction graphic novel about a Japanese Canadian boy whose family is forced to move to an internment camp during World War II. The boy, Sandy, loves baseball and his local Japanese Canadian team. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, his family is subjected to discrimination, curfew, and confiscation of property. They are eventually moved to an internment camp, where the story focuses on his attempts to find some normalcy in his life and desire to keep his family intact. This book would be great for children as young as 8 to able to view the impact of discrimination and the far reaching consequences of the mistreatment of others. Sandy is a very relatable character, and I think other children would be able to empathize with the situation his family finds themselves in. The illustrations are clear and beautifully colored, and the story moves at a fast pace with a perfect balance of text per illustration for children. This story would be a good resource for facilitating conversations with children about race, appearances, kindness, and discrimination.

Reading about Japanese internment during World War II is awful. We weren’t taught about it in high school (not that I can remember atleast), so my first experience with finding out about it is from George Takei’s They Called Us Enemy. What I loved about his book is that it taught us not only what the internment camps in the US were like, but also much more after the ending of them. I think that last bit was lacking from Stealing Home.

While I love knowing that baseball saved him, I want to know what J Torres went on to do after. I’ll just do the research, but I only subtracted 1 star for that. Other than the ending, I loved this book!

This was excellent. I laughed, and cried, and learned something about baseball! I really love the illustrations and the voice.

A year or so ago I read They Called Us Enemy by George Takei and it was one of the most enlightening books I have ever read in my life, the whole time Canada and the United States have
criticized and condemned the Nazi concentration camps, the whole time they have acted as though they weren’t something but the other side of the coin, acted as they would never do something like that, but oh surprise! They already did it to the Japanese people for the same reason the nazis did it to the Jews.

It was not until recently that I discovered, browsing through Wikipedia, the reason why the Germans were against the Jews in World War II and it was the fact that they thought the Jews did something to made them lost the war, that they sabotaged them and that's why Hitler did what he did. After the Pearl Harbor attacks by the Japanese, the Americans and Canadians panicked, they thought that anyone who was Japanese could betray or sabotage them out of loyalty to Japan; They were so scared that they forbade descendants of Japanese, Japanese Americans and others from enlisting in the army (then they lifted this when they realized they needed soldiers), they took away their jobs, houses, savings and belongings and even made them renounce to their citizenship and deport them to Japan just because they didn’t trust them, they called them their "enemies".

Ever since I read They Called Us Enemy last year I have thought about that, the fact that years later Canada and the United States wanted to get away with it and “compensate” for its mistakes when they caused so much pain, when they punished Canadians and Americans for their inheritance (which nowadays is still a reality, but that's for another book), when they betrayed the people who emigrated looking for a “better” life and took everything from them, people who worked as hard as everyone there. When years later they gave them money, asked for forgiveness and smiled saying that they were sorry when in the same war their enemy did exactly the same with a different group, when they condemned what others did when they did the same.

Concentration camps may not be entirely comparable, but the treatment, pain and betrayal of the people they say they were trying to protect is simply being hypocritical. This book touches all this but softer, but it hurts the same, and it is part of a story that is not taught enough because it doesn’t make them look good. How many times have you heard about this? Until a year ago, I never did, and I’m just saying this because of the name of Canada and the States in Latin America

This is a Historical Fiction Middle Grade Graphic Novel. This book follows a young Japanese boy that lives in Canada. This book takes place during WWII right after Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. I loved the pictures in this Graphic Novel because it takes you back to that time period. This book is written in away that Middle Grade readers can understand how hard it was during this time period without upsetting the readers to much. I loves that the boy we follow loves baseball because the main characters love of baseball help tell the story without overwhelming the young readers. This was a great Graphic Novel. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Kids Can Press) or author (J. Torres) via NetGalley, so I can give honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

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.