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takemetothestarlesssea's review
5.0
(NetGalley arc)
"Stealing home” is a short yet heartbreaking graphic novel showing a glimpse of a young boy’s experience of the aftermath of the attacks on Pearl Harbor, namely the dispossession as well as the forced relocation of the Japanese Canadian population to internment camps where people lived under terrible circumstances. Our protagonist does not only lose the life he knew, knowing that it will never come back, but is also, for a long time, separated from his father as Japanese men were sent to road camps to perform forced labor.
As difficult as it was to read certain passages, this graphic novel remains very relevant today. On the one hand, it is an important resource for educational purposes - I must admit that it filled a huge educational gap of my own as the post-Pearl Harbor suffering of the US and Canada’s Japanese population was completely left out in my history classes (Austria). Furthermore, the topics addressed in the novel, namely the discrimination, dispossession and forced relocation of people and the trauma that goes along with these horrible experiences, are still very relevant if we look at the current suffering of other people all over the world (e.g., the Uyghurs, the Rohingya people, Palestinians, and many others).
I appreciate that the novel ends with extended background information and that it provides other references for further research. I highly recommend reading it!
"Stealing home” is a short yet heartbreaking graphic novel showing a glimpse of a young boy’s experience of the aftermath of the attacks on Pearl Harbor, namely the dispossession as well as the forced relocation of the Japanese Canadian population to internment camps where people lived under terrible circumstances. Our protagonist does not only lose the life he knew, knowing that it will never come back, but is also, for a long time, separated from his father as Japanese men were sent to road camps to perform forced labor.
As difficult as it was to read certain passages, this graphic novel remains very relevant today. On the one hand, it is an important resource for educational purposes - I must admit that it filled a huge educational gap of my own as the post-Pearl Harbor suffering of the US and Canada’s Japanese population was completely left out in my history classes (Austria). Furthermore, the topics addressed in the novel, namely the discrimination, dispossession and forced relocation of people and the trauma that goes along with these horrible experiences, are still very relevant if we look at the current suffering of other people all over the world (e.g., the Uyghurs, the Rohingya people, Palestinians, and many others).
I appreciate that the novel ends with extended background information and that it provides other references for further research. I highly recommend reading it!
kindredbooks's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
fast-paced
4.5
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 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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Racism
manglitter's review
4.0
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Such a beautiful and heartbreaking story about a boy's experience in a Japanese internment camp during the WII,
It's also a story about how a lot of Japanese people could cope with such an horrible life's style and injustice thanks to the Baseball.
Sandy's love for this sport helped him deal with all the difficult changes that he and his family had to endure after the Pearl Habore's attack. I loved it because it was about how much family is more important than anything else, home is always where your family remains.
A wonderful book with great illustrations, the artist's style works so well with the story, a vintage kind of style. I liked it, amazing idea.
Another part of the history where we witness again the great foolishness of the humanity which might made you angry and sad to see our narrow minds at their worst. Will it change? We keep hoping.
Such a beautiful and heartbreaking story about a boy's experience in a Japanese internment camp during the WII,
It's also a story about how a lot of Japanese people could cope with such an horrible life's style and injustice thanks to the Baseball.
Sandy's love for this sport helped him deal with all the difficult changes that he and his family had to endure after the Pearl Habore's attack. I loved it because it was about how much family is more important than anything else, home is always where your family remains.
A wonderful book with great illustrations, the artist's style works so well with the story, a vintage kind of style. I liked it, amazing idea.
Another part of the history where we witness again the great foolishness of the humanity which might made you angry and sad to see our narrow minds at their worst. Will it change? We keep hoping.
bookswithsmee's review
4.0
Stealing Home by J. Torres and David Namisato:4/5*
“Baseball is about finding your way home. It’s a metaphor for life. It was the one thing they took from us that we were able to steal back.”
I thank Kids Can Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Stealing Home is a graphic novel that follows Sandy Saito and his family, just a small fraction of the 21 000 Japanese-Canadians who were forced to leave their homes following the Attack at Pearl Harbour. This is a story of a young boy, stripped of his house, belongings and rights, who manages to find home in his family, his new community and baseball.
The World War II Japanese Internment Camps are something that we’re egregiously left out of my public school Canadian education. While I was aware of their existence and understood them as the horrific human rights violations that they were, this is the first narrative I’ve read of someone who lived that experience.
I really appreciate the title of this book and the motif of baseball in this story. Stealing Home - both the act of stealing a base in the sport that brought Sandy so much comfort, but also the action of reclaiming a sense of belonging and companionship in a place meant to strip individuals of that.
Obviously this graphic novel, being marketed to a younger audience, does not contain any graphic details of what Japanese-Canadians endured in these camps. I think this makes it a good piece of introductory material to these internment camps for younger readers, those that will see themselves in Sandy. It is with stories like this that we can teach young people about Canadian history and begin them on a journey to learn that which they won’t be taught in school.
*Rating system for reviews is as follows:
5/5 - I would recommend this book to anyone and I plan to read it again (likely a book I would call my favourite)
4/5 - I would recommend this book to anyone
3/5 - I would recommend this book if it fit the specific genre/trope/style you were looking for
2/5 - I would not recommend this book, but I will not discourage others from trying it
1/5 - I would discourage you from reading this book
“Baseball is about finding your way home. It’s a metaphor for life. It was the one thing they took from us that we were able to steal back.”
I thank Kids Can Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Stealing Home is a graphic novel that follows Sandy Saito and his family, just a small fraction of the 21 000 Japanese-Canadians who were forced to leave their homes following the Attack at Pearl Harbour. This is a story of a young boy, stripped of his house, belongings and rights, who manages to find home in his family, his new community and baseball.
The World War II Japanese Internment Camps are something that we’re egregiously left out of my public school Canadian education. While I was aware of their existence and understood them as the horrific human rights violations that they were, this is the first narrative I’ve read of someone who lived that experience.
I really appreciate the title of this book and the motif of baseball in this story. Stealing Home - both the act of stealing a base in the sport that brought Sandy so much comfort, but also the action of reclaiming a sense of belonging and companionship in a place meant to strip individuals of that.
Obviously this graphic novel, being marketed to a younger audience, does not contain any graphic details of what Japanese-Canadians endured in these camps. I think this makes it a good piece of introductory material to these internment camps for younger readers, those that will see themselves in Sandy. It is with stories like this that we can teach young people about Canadian history and begin them on a journey to learn that which they won’t be taught in school.
*Rating system for reviews is as follows:
5/5 - I would recommend this book to anyone and I plan to read it again (likely a book I would call my favourite)
4/5 - I would recommend this book to anyone
3/5 - I would recommend this book if it fit the specific genre/trope/style you were looking for
2/5 - I would not recommend this book, but I will not discourage others from trying it
1/5 - I would discourage you from reading this book
curiousmadra's review
3.0
While the story was easy to follow and the fact it was interesting to see the eyes of Asian Americans who were affected during World War but it needed to show exactly how baseball games were played then. Look I may not be a “pro” at baseball but it would have been nice to teach us more on how they coped with organising baseball games during that time…
Thanks Netgalley and publisher for giving me this book!
Thanks Netgalley and publisher for giving me this book!
pavi_fictionalworm's review
4.0
Disclaimer: An eARC was provided via The Publisher via Netgalley as part of the Blog Tour. The Thoughts, opinions & feelings expressed in the review are therefore, my own.
This is a Historical Middle Grade Fiction based on the internment of Japanese Americans by the US Government and the Canadian Government during the WWII.
Stealing Home, takes place just before and after the attack on Pearl Harbour - and shows the kind of discrimination and persecution as well as the displacement that Japanese Americans and people of Japanese origins faced in the US and Canada.
Written for young children, to teach them about the history and their bleak situations that Japanese Americans found themselves in during the WWII. So, this is a short read, and doesn’t go much in detail; though I do wish it had.
Sandy Saito is a young boy who lived for Baseball and the Adani team that is the pride of the Japanese Canadian community. Everything changes after the attack on Pearl Harbour - the kids at his school start treating him and other Japenese kids differently, other families are soon being taken away to places unknown and the most horrific of all - his father, a doctor in his community is separated and taken to another camp while he, his younger brother and his mother have been taken to another camp.
Stealing Home is the start of talking about the atrocities that the Japanese Americans and Canadians faced by their own government and one which they haven’t ever been compensated for - but we need more books and more awareness, especially for kids who need to understand their own history.
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antonique_reads's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.0
roshreviews's review
emotional
informative
fast-paced
4.25
If you’ve read George Takei’s memoir “They Called Us Enemy”, you know how unfair life was to the Japanese-Americans after the Pearl Harbor attacks. “Stealing Home” gives us a similar glimpse but a couple of minor yet significant changes. It tells us the story of the reshuffling of Japanese-Canadians after the attacks, and it is aimed at middle-graders instead of at adults. These two changes make the grim topic appear hopeful.
We meet Sandy, a huge baseball fan, who stays with his parents and younger brother in Vancouver. After the bombing of the Pearl Harbor, life turns upside down for them. Having to leave almost everything behind after they are made to shift to transit camps in remote areas, Sandy still tries to make the best of the situation. But what he misses the most is baseball, and what finally makes him feel better is baseball’s re-entry in his life. The book also touches upon his complicated relationship with his doctor-father.
The graphics in this book are quite simplistic and sepia-toned. This helps create a nostalgic flavour to the story.
As an essential part of Canadian history, this book serves very well to enlighten modern youngsters about the travesties of the past. Thought the topic is dark, the author does his best to keep the content child-friendly. The only thing I felt could have been better was the end. While I get the point about baseball being the be-all and end-all for Sandy, I sure would have liked to know what happened next in the internment camp. The ending felt incomplete. In spite of this, I will recommend the book wholeheartedly. It is only by learning about our past that we can avoid similar mistakes in the future.
Thank you, NetGalley and Kids Can Press, for the ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.
We meet Sandy, a huge baseball fan, who stays with his parents and younger brother in Vancouver. After the bombing of the Pearl Harbor, life turns upside down for them. Having to leave almost everything behind after they are made to shift to transit camps in remote areas, Sandy still tries to make the best of the situation. But what he misses the most is baseball, and what finally makes him feel better is baseball’s re-entry in his life. The book also touches upon his complicated relationship with his doctor-father.
The graphics in this book are quite simplistic and sepia-toned. This helps create a nostalgic flavour to the story.
As an essential part of Canadian history, this book serves very well to enlighten modern youngsters about the travesties of the past. Thought the topic is dark, the author does his best to keep the content child-friendly. The only thing I felt could have been better was the end. While I get the point about baseball being the be-all and end-all for Sandy, I sure would have liked to know what happened next in the internment camp. The ending felt incomplete. In spite of this, I will recommend the book wholeheartedly. It is only by learning about our past that we can avoid similar mistakes in the future.
Thank you, NetGalley and Kids Can Press, for the ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.
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