Baseball Saved Us

One of the desert concentration camps in which Japanese Americans were interned during the Second World War provides an unfamiliar setting for the familiar theme of how sport can spiritually liberate the oppressed. The prisoners create a baseball pitch inside the wire, and in the course of their games a young boy is given a sense of self-esteem which endures when he has to face the racism awaiting him after he's freed. The picture book format and plain, understated prose of this story powerfully depict a troubled and neglected aspect of American history.