Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
A Diamond in the Desert
For Tetsu, baseball is so much more than just a game
On December 6, 1941, Tetsu is a twelve-year-old California boy who loves baseball. On December 7, 1941, everything changes. The bombing of Pearl Harbor means Tetsu's Japanese-American family will be relocated to an internment camp.
Gila River camp isn't technically a prison, but with nowhere to go, nothing to do, and no...more
On December 6, 1941, Tetsu is a twelve-year-old California boy who loves baseball. On December 7, 1941, everything changes. The bombing of Pearl Harbor means Tetsu's Japanese-American family will be relocated to an internment camp.
Gila River camp isn't technically a prison, but with nowhere to go, nothing to do, and no...more
Hardcover, 258 pages
Published
February 16th 2012
by Viking Juvenile
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
269)
I think the book A Diamond in the Desert was an amazing book. I think it was really interesting because the setting takes place in a Japanese internment camp after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The main character in the book is Tetsu. He is in the camp with his mom, his sister Kimi, and a bunch of other Japanese people. In the book, Tetsu makes friends and they all find out they have a similar interest in baseball. Tetsu, the boys, and their father decide to make a baseball diamond so that they c...more
This story takes place in Arizona in 1942. Tetsu Kishi and his family have been re-located there after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. All people of Japanese descent have been sent to internment camps throughout the country. Gila River is not technically a prison but there is nothing to do and nowhere to go. Tetsu’s father is not yet with them; he has been detained by the FBI for further questioning so Tetsu feels the pressure of being the “man of the family.” There is nothing to do at the camp. Th...more
Let me start out by saying that I am NOT a fan of baseball, so it was with some reluctance that I picked up this book. It turns out to be one of the best books I've read in a while! Set at Gila River camp during the Japanese internment during WWII, we hear of the experiences of Tetsu, 13 years old when he arrives at Gila River with his mother and sister. Tetsu is heartbroken and missing his father who was sent to a different facility because he was suspected of helping Japanese forces. Tetsu, de...more
Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, thirteen-year-old Tetsu Kishi and his family are moved to Gila River Relocation Center in the scorching Arizona desert. They must leave behind their beloved dog Lefty, and Tetsu's father is questioned by the FBI to determine if he is guilty of spying for the Japanese. Even though the camp's residents are far from home and must contend with fierce winds and heat and lack of privacy, somehow they manage to endure. Since Tetsu played baseball back...more
gr 5-7 258pgs
1941 California/Gila River Camp, Nevada. After Pearl Harbor, 12 year old Tetsu, his younger sister Kimi and his mother along with other people of Japanese descent are forced to leave their homes and be relocated. Tetsu's father is sent to a different camp, so Tetsu feels it is up to him to take care of the family until his father is reunited with the family. At Gila River Camp, Tetsu misses his home, his dog Lefty, his friends, and most of all baseball. When one of his friend's fath...more
1941 California/Gila River Camp, Nevada. After Pearl Harbor, 12 year old Tetsu, his younger sister Kimi and his mother along with other people of Japanese descent are forced to leave their homes and be relocated. Tetsu's father is sent to a different camp, so Tetsu feels it is up to him to take care of the family until his father is reunited with the family. At Gila River Camp, Tetsu misses his home, his dog Lefty, his friends, and most of all baseball. When one of his friend's fath...more
gr 5-7 258pgs
1941 California/Gila River Camp, Nevada. After Pearl Harbor, 12 year old Tetsu, his younger sister Kimi and his mother along with other people of Japanese descent are forced to leave their homes and be relocated. Tetsu's father is sent to a different camp, so Tetsu feels it is up to him to take care of the family until his father is reunited with the family. At Gila River Camp, Tetsu misses his home, his dog Lefty, his friends, and most of all baseball. When one of his friend's fath...more
1941 California/Gila River Camp, Nevada. After Pearl Harbor, 12 year old Tetsu, his younger sister Kimi and his mother along with other people of Japanese descent are forced to leave their homes and be relocated. Tetsu's father is sent to a different camp, so Tetsu feels it is up to him to take care of the family until his father is reunited with the family. At Gila River Camp, Tetsu misses his home, his dog Lefty, his friends, and most of all baseball. When one of his friend's fath...more
I really enjoyed this book about life in Gila River Relocation Center during World War II. Tetsu Kishi lives there from August, 1942 until the spring of 1945. He is a baseball player, captain of his team back home. Living in the internment camp is tough. Not enough privacy, food that isn't familiar, nothing to do. The internees make the best of it - including building their own baseball field and starting their own team. Baseball makes life livable for Tetsu.
A Diamond in the Desert is fiction,...more
A Diamond in the Desert is fiction,...more
After the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Tetsu Kishi has to leave his California home and his dog behind because he, his mother, and sister have to relocate to an internment camp for Japanese Americans in Arizona, but he does get to take his prized baseball glove. The situation in the camp is dire because Tetsu's father is detained in North Dakota, suspected of being a spy, and there is nothing to do but sweep the dust from the living quarters. Finally, a school is formed and there are plans to tra...more
Almost every night Tetsu, a talented first base player, dreams of a lush green baseball field. Then he wakes up in the hot, dusty Arizona desert. Like many Americans of Japanese descent, Tetsu, and his mother and sister were relocated to a jail-like internment camp after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. They were forced to leave their home, possessions, and beloved dog behind in California. To make matters worse, Tetsu’s father was taken to North Dakota for questioning, with no indication of when he...more
A Diamond in the Desert tells the often forgotten story of Japanese Americans who were shuffled off to internment camps in a fit of post-Pearl Harbor paranoia. There in the desert, they looked for ways to pass the time and survive. One of the ways they did was to create a kind of baseball league between camps. Reading this story reminded me of the picture book, Baseball Saved Us, by Ken Mochizuki. I thought this might be a good follow up for older readers who were familiar with the picture book...more
A fictional telling of a real live event, the creation of 1940s Japanese internment camp baseball teams.
This story specifically follows the Kishi family as they are forced to relocate to the Arizona desert from CA after the Pearl Harbor attacks. Tetsu, the oldest of two children, does his best to fill his father's shoes while his father is being held by the FBI for questioning, but all he really wants to do is play baseball. It is this desire that leads to him angrily leaving his sister alone an...more
This story specifically follows the Kishi family as they are forced to relocate to the Arizona desert from CA after the Pearl Harbor attacks. Tetsu, the oldest of two children, does his best to fill his father's shoes while his father is being held by the FBI for questioning, but all he really wants to do is play baseball. It is this desire that leads to him angrily leaving his sister alone an...more
A great historical fiction sports novel. Could be used in classroom in connection to the WWII mandate that Japanese Americans enter internment camps. Tetsu has been sent to one in the middle of an Arizona desert with his mother and sister. His father was detained for questioning. Throughout the book we learn that Tetsu loved baseball but also loves his family. The author researched this time period through interviews with the real Tetsu and some of his teammates as well as reading the newspaper...more
What an amazing and powerful story written in such a simplistic style, with cropped sentences and precise word choice. After Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were sent to reserves until their innocence was established. This story is about a young boy and how baseball saved his camp.
Beautifully written, amazingly rich characters, some of the most beautiful prose I've read:
"Our barrack filled with quiet wooden apologies."
Moving on to Fitzmaurice's first book next,"The Year the Swallows Came Early...more
Beautifully written, amazingly rich characters, some of the most beautiful prose I've read:
"Our barrack filled with quiet wooden apologies."
Moving on to Fitzmaurice's first book next,"The Year the Swallows Came Early...more
Based on a true story, this novel is well researched and well thought out. Thirteen-year-old Tetsu and his family are among the thousands of Japanese Americans shuffled off to relocation camps following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The author gives a very realistic view of the conditions in the camp. She also makes a good effort at showing the many ways the relocation affected people. My main criticism is that the other internees are too nice. No one ever utters a cross word or tries to trip up...more
I liked this book. It's about one boy and his family at a Japanese American relocation center after Pearl Harbor, and it paints a vivid picture of the experience. It's written in short chapters, modern language, and it chronicles the start of the center's baseball team, so it has guy appeal, especially for historical fiction assignments. At the same time, though it's not written as poetry, it almost has a free verse feel to it. So this may distance some readers.
Kathryn Fitzmaurice wove a story about how Japanese Americans, key word here, Americans, were rounded up and sent to encampments during WW2. It details hardships but also unification, hope, family, and friends. It's got a great baseball hook as well, so boys will love it as well as girls. I think she covered all bases in this fact based, historical fiction. Great book to add to any shelf, home, school, or library.
I enjoyed this well-researched, quick read about life in a Japanese Internment camp during World War II, but thought the plot moved a bit slowly. The very short chapters may appeal to reluctant readers, but not those looking for a story with a lot of action. The role that baseball played in the lives of the camp residents is certainly interesting, but this is more character-driven than a sports story.
A DIAMOND IN THE DESERT is a quiet book, written in very short chapters. The longest chapter is three pages. Most are only half a page. In a book about a Japanese Internment Camp, I expected cries of outrage. There are no cries of outrage. The sense, instead, is that this is where Tetsu and his mother and sister must live for now. Tetsu becomes part of a baseball team, which makes life more bearable.
Another in what seems like a long line of really excellent baseball-related titles published in 2012. Fitzmaurice captures the loneliness and sadness of Tetsu and his family as they try to readjust to life in an internment camp. This title stands with Mochizuki’s Baseball Saved Us to present an honest look at a difficult aspect of our nation’s history.
A good book for lover of baseball, and yet filled with realistic description of what life was like for children in the interment camps from 1942-45. I felt like this was the kids' version of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and I liked that one too. The author's note in the back shows just how authentic the story it. Enjoyed it.
The initial temptation would be to use this as WWII history, which would be truly valid. i would like to see this used as a way to investigate the current xenophobia in the US and see what kids have to say about how this book relates to the current climate in America and what we need to do about blame and hate.
Japanese Americans are sent to internment camps during WWII. This is the story of a young baseball player who ends up on an Indian reservation in Arizona. This book explores the hardships of the camps, but also the induring spirit of people. Lots of baseball for baseball lovers.
From my review at A Christian Worldview of Fiction: I highly recommend this story for anyone who likes to read. This one may be marketed for middle graders, but it is no less for adults. It shows historical things all of us need to read; it causes us to think about the consequences of our choices — something that is timeless and universal.
Possibly a little young for 8th grade, and more of a baseball book set in an internment camp than an internment camp book in itself. Very, very fast read, but not sure this is hitting the notes the 8th grade teachers will be looking for.
Kathryn Fitzmaurice writes another story about hopes and dreams and family and the things that can tear families apart and bring them back together. The things that can bring community together in the midst of despair. The friendships where you don't have to say anything at all and you know what the other is thinking. I loved, loved, loved this book. This is a gem of a story that is a must have for libraries and classrooms.
World War II + baseball + short chapters + great story = a book my sixth graders will gobble up in the fall.
Reading the author's note, I was pleased to discover how many of the events in the story really happened.
Reading the author's note, I was pleased to discover how many of the events in the story really happened.
Good historical fiction combining a lot of what makes a family special with the individual feelings that only baseball can bring.
I look for books about Japanese Americans during WW II and I like books that use a baseball metaphor, so this one should have been a winner. It is okay, but there are many better ones.
I liked that the author tried to show the personal life of a boy in the camps, rather than focusing on the camp itself. She may be a new writer, because there was an awkwardness about the book that made it hard for me to savor.
If you want perfection, read When the Emperor was Divine, by Julie Otsuka.
I liked that the author tried to show the personal life of a boy in the camps, rather than focusing on the camp itself. She may be a new writer, because there was an awkwardness about the book that made it hard for me to savor.
If you want perfection, read When the Emperor was Divine, by Julie Otsuka.
Sports, historical fiction, hardships to overcome and the bond of friends and family. A very good book.
Nov 05, 2012
Ann
added it
Read this book for an example of how to get to the emotional core without extra words.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
When Kathryn was thirteen years old, her mother sent her to New York City over the summer to visit her grandmother, who was a science fiction author. After seeing how her grandmother could make the characters in her books into whomever she wanted, Kathryn decided that she, too, wanted to become a writer someday. Years later, after teaching elementary school, and taking many classes, she now writes...more
More about Kathryn Fitzmaurice...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
Sep 02, 2012 04:24am