HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": "Baseball Saved Us (book)",
"doctype": "articles",
"links": {
"html": "https://resourceguide.densho.org/Baseball%20Saved%20Us%20(book)/?format=api",
"json": "https://resourceguide.densho.org/api/3.0/articles/Baseball%20Saved%20Us%20(book)/?format=api"
},
"title_sort": "baseballsavedusbook",
"description": "Popular and acclaimed children's picture book written by Ken Mochizuki and illustrated by Dom Lee about the concentration camps and their aftermath through the prism of baseball.",
"rg_rgmediatype": [
"books"
],
"mediatype_label": "Books",
"mediatype_icon": "fa-book",
"rg_interestlevel": [
"Grades 1-2",
"Grades 3-5"
],
"rg_genre": [
"Children's",
"Sports",
"Picture book"
],
"rg_theme": [
"Character - destruction, building up",
"Fear of failure"
],
"rg_readinglevel": [
"Grades 3-5"
],
"rg_availability": [
"Widely available"
],
"categories": [
{
"title": "Arts"
}
],
"topics": [],
"authors": [
{
"title": "Brian Niiya",
"json": "https://resourceguide.densho.org/api/3.0/authors/Brian%20Niiya/?format=api",
"html": "https://resourceguide.densho.org/authors/Brian%20Niiya/?format=api"
}
],
"sources": [
{
"id": "en-baseballsavedus-1",
"json": "https://resourceguide.densho.org/api/3.0/sources/en-baseballsavedus-1/?format=api",
"html": "https://resourceguide.densho.org/sources/en-baseballsavedus-1/?format=api"
}
],
"title": "Baseball Saved Us (book)",
"source_ids": [
"en-baseballsavedus-1"
],
"published_encyc": true,
"published_rg": true,
"modified": "2023-12-11T20:07:30",
"databoxes": {
"rgdatabox-Core": {
"rgmediatype": [
"books"
],
"title": [
"Baseball Saved Us"
],
"creators": [
"Ken Mochizuki",
"Dom Lee (illustrator)"
],
"interestlevel": [
"Grades 1-2",
"Grades 3-5"
],
"readinglevel": [
"Grades 3-5"
],
"guidedreadinglevel": [],
"lexile": [],
"theme": [
"Character - destruction, building up",
"Fear of failure"
],
"genre": [
"Children's",
"Sports",
"Picture book"
],
"pov": [
"First-person",
"Japanese American boy"
],
"relatedevents": [],
"availability": [
"Widely available"
],
"freewebversion": [
"Yes"
],
"primarysecondary": [],
"hasteachingaids": [
"Yes"
],
"warnings": [],
"denshotopic": [],
"geography": [
"West Coast, United States"
],
"chronology": [
"1941-1946"
],
"facility": []
},
"databox-Books": {
"title": [
"Baseball Saved Us"
],
"author": [
"Ken Mochizuki"
],
"illustrator": [
"Dom Lee"
],
"origtitle": [],
"country": [],
"language": [],
"series": [],
"genre": [],
"publisher": [
"Lee & Low"
],
"pubdate": [
"1993"
],
"currentpublisher": [],
"currentpubdate": [],
"mediatype": [],
"pages": [
"32"
],
"awards": [],
"isbn": [],
"worldcatlink": [
"<a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.worldcat.org/title/baseball-saved-us/oclc/26503118/editions\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.worldcat.org/title/baseball-saved-us/oclc/26503118/editions</a>"
]
}
},
"rg_title": [
"Baseball Saved Us"
],
"rg_creators": [
"Ken Mochizuki",
"Dom Lee (illustrator)"
],
"rg_pov": [
"First-person",
"Japanese American boy"
],
"rg_freewebversion": [
"Yes"
],
"rg_geography": [
"West Coast, United States"
],
"rg_chronology": [
"1941-1946"
],
"rg_hasteachingaids": [
"Yes"
],
"body": "<div class=\"mw-parser-output\">\n <div id=\"databox-Books\" style=\"display:none;\">\n <p>\n Title:Baseball Saved Us;\nAuthor:Ken Mochizuki;\nIllustrator:Dom Lee;\nOrigTitle:;\nCountry:;\nLanguage:;\nSeries:;\nGenre:;\nPublisher:Lee & Low;\nPubDate:1993;\nCurrentPublisher:;\nCurrentPubDate:;\nMediaType:;\nPages:32;\nAwards:;\nISBN:;\nWorldCatLink:\n <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://www.worldcat.org/title/baseball-saved-us/oclc/26503118/editions\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n http://www.worldcat.org/title/baseball-saved-us/oclc/26503118/editions\n </a>\n ;\n </p>\n </div>\n <div class=\"floatright\">\n </div>\n <div class=\"rgonly\">\n <!--\"rgdatabox-CoreDisplay\" removed-->\n <div id=\"rgdatabox-Core\" style=\"display:none;\">\n <p>\n RGMediaType:books;\nTitle:Baseball Saved Us;\nCreators:Ken Mochizuki; Dom Lee (illustrator);\nInterestLevel:Grades 1-2; Grades 3-5;\nReadingLevel:Grades 3-5;\nGuidedReadingLevel:;\nLexile:;\nTheme:Character - destruction, building up; Fear of failure;\nGenre:Children's; Sports; Picture book;\nPoV:First-person; Japanese American boy;\nRelatedEvents:;\nAvailability:Widely available;\nFreeWebVersion:Yes;\nPrimarySecondary:;\nHasTeachingAids:Yes;\nWarnings:;\nDenshoTopic:;\nGeography:West Coast, United States;\nChronology:1941-1946;\nFacility:;\n </p>\n </div>\n </div>\n <p>\n Popular and acclaimed children's picture book written by Ken Mochizuki and illustrated by Dom Lee about the concentration camps and their aftermath through the prism of baseball.\n </p>\n <p>\n A journalist and actor, author Mochizuki was approached by Philip Lee, founder of the new multicultural children's book publisher Lee & Low Books about writing a children's book based on baseball in the concentration camps. In producing the book, he worked with illustrator Lee, a Korean immigrant who did research for the book by looking at\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"https://encyclopedia.densho.org/wiki/Ansel_Adams\" title=\"Ansel Adams\">\n Ansel Adams\n </a>\n ' photos of\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"https://encyclopedia.densho.org/wiki/Manzanar\" title=\"Manzanar\">\n Manzanar\n </a>\n ; some of his scratchboard and oil images for the book were inspired by Adams' images.\n </p>\n <p>\n The book is told in the first person voice of Shorty, a young Japanese American boy. After a brief introduction that gives some of the historical background of the incarceration, the book traces Shorty's family's forced removal from their home to the former horse stalls of an \"\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"https://encyclopedia.densho.org/wiki/Assembly_centers\" title=\"Assembly centers\">\n assembly center\n </a>\n ,\" then to a desert concentration camp. His narrative notes the harsh weather conditions, dust storms, guard towers, lines and lack of privacy. To help alleviate the tedium of the camp, his father enlists other inmates in building a baseball field, which helps swing the mood of the camp. Though not a good player, Shorty plays on and improbably hits a home run in the championship game. After the war and out of the camps, Shorty finds himself in another important baseball game before a crowd that jeers him with racial epithets. He draws on his camp experience in playing through the crowd and the opposition in the book's climax.\n </p>\n <p>\n The book received a warm response from critics and public, selling over half-a-million copies and becoming the best selling book in the entire Lee & Low catalog.\n <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref1_1-0\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref1-1\">\n [1]\n </a>\n </sup>\n It received a boost from a positive review by Ira Berkow in the\n <i>\n New York Times\n </i>\n , who wrote that Mochizuki \"captures the confusion, wonder and terror of a small child in such stunning circumstances with convincing understatement.\"\n <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref2_2-0\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref2-2\">\n [2]\n </a>\n </sup>\n Nearly all other reviews were positive, including Karleen Chinen's in the\n <i>\n Hawaii Herald\n </i>\n ; she called it \"uplifting and inspirational\" and a \"homerun of a story.\"\n <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref3_3-0\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref3-3\">\n [3]\n </a>\n </sup>\n Among the more mixed reviews, Roger Sutton in\n <i>\n Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books\n </i>\n found the storyline \"dated and sentimental,\" while the reviewer for\n <i>\n Publishers Weekly\n </i>\n felt there was too much exposition and background and not enough story.\n <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref4_4-0\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref4-4\">\n [4]\n </a>\n </sup>\n Illustrator Lee's work also drew praise, with reviewers noting his clever use of color to reflect the shifting mood of the story.\n <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref5_5-0\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref5-5\">\n [5]\n </a>\n </sup>\n </p>\n <p>\n Mochizuki and Lee have collaborated on several other titles for Lee & Low, including\n <i>\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://resourceguide.densho.org/Heroes%20(book)/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n Heroes\n </a>\n </i>\n (1995), on children learning of the postwar legacy of Nisei veterans. Mochizuki also adopted\n <i>\n Baseball Saved Us\n </i>\n into a\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://resourceguide.densho.org/Baseball%20Saved%20Us%20(play)/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n children's play\n </a>\n in 2003.\n </p>\n <p>\n A fixture on children's reading lists, the book was briefly in the news in 2008 when parents in the New Milford school district in Connecticut requested that the book be taken off the second grade reading list because of its use of the racial slur \"Jap.\"\n <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref6_6-0\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref6-6\">\n [6]\n </a>\n </sup>\n </p>\n <p>\n Several other fictional works have since taken on the topic of baseball in the concentration camps, including\n <i>\n Suitcase Sefton and the American Dream: A Novel\n </i>\n by Jay Feldman (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2006);\n <i>\n The Lucky Baseball: My Story in a Japanese-American Internment Camp\n </i>\n by Suzanne Lieurance (Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Enslow Publishers, 2010) and\n <i>\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://resourceguide.densho.org/Barbed%20Wire%20Baseball%20(book)/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n Barbed Wire Baseball\n </a>\n </i>\n by Marissa Moss and illustrated by Yuko Shimizu (New York: Abrams Books, 2013).\n </p>\n <div id=\"authorByline\">\n <b>\n Authored by\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"https://encyclopedia.densho.org/wiki/Brian_Niiya\" title=\"Brian Niiya\">\n Brian Niiya\n </a>\n , Densho\n </b>\n </div>\n <div id=\"citationAuthor\" style=\"display:none;\">\n Niiya, Brian\n </div>\n</div>\n",
"moreinfo": "<div class=\"section\" id=\"For_More_Information\">\n <h2>\n <span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"For_More_Information\">\n For More Information\n </span>\n </h2>\n <div class=\"section_content\">\n <p>\n Lee & Low Books Reading Guide.\n <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://www.leeandlow.com/images/pdfs/baseball.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n http://www.leeandlow.com/images/pdfs/baseball.pdf\n </a>\n </p>\n <p>\n Ken Mochizuki website.\n <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://kenmochizuki.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n http://kenmochizuki.com/\n </a>\n .\n </p>\n </div>\n</div>",
"footnotes": "<div class=\"section\" id=\"Footnotes\">\n <h2>\n <span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"Footnotes\">\n Footnotes\n </span>\n </h2>\n <div class=\"section_content\">\n <div class=\"reflist\" style=\"list-style-type: decimal;\">\n <div class=\"mw-references-wrap\">\n <ol class=\"references\">\n <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref1-1\">\n <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref1_1-0\">\n ↑\n </a>\n </span>\n <span class=\"reference-text\">\n Ken Mochizuki website, accessed on April 9, 2015 at\n <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://kenmochizuki.com/book.htm\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n http://kenmochizuki.com/book.htm\n </a>\n ;\n <i>\n International Examiner\n </i>\n , June 7–20, 2008, 3.\n </span>\n </li>\n <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref2-2\">\n <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref2_2-0\">\n ↑\n </a>\n </span>\n <span class=\"reference-text\">\n Ira Berkow,\n <i>\n New York Times\n </i>\n , Apr. 4, 1993, accessed on April 9, 2015 at\n <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/04/books/children-s-books-023693.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/04/books/children-s-books-023693.html\n </a>\n .\n </span>\n </li>\n <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref3-3\">\n <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref3_3-0\">\n ↑\n </a>\n </span>\n <span class=\"reference-text\">\n Karleen Chinen,\n <i>\n Hawaii Herald\n </i>\n , Sept. 17, 1993, A-7. Other positive reviews include those by Ellen Fader,\n <i>\n Horn Book Magazine\n </i>\n 69.4 (1993): 453–54; Tom S. Hulburt in\n <i>\n School Library Journal\n </i>\n , June 1, 1993, 84–85; Hazel Rochman,\n <i>\n Booklist\n </i>\n , Apr. 15, 1993, accessed on April 9, 2015 at\n <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://booklistonline.com/Baseball-Saved-Us-Ken-Mochizuki/pid=945440\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n http://booklistonline.com/Baseball-Saved-Us-Ken-Mochizuki/pid=945440\n </a>\n ; and an unsigned review in\n <i>\n Kirkus Reviews\n </i>\n , Mar. 15, 1993, accessed on Apr. 9, 2015 at\n <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ken-mochizuki/baseball-saved-us/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ken-mochizuki/baseball-saved-us/\n </a>\n .\n </span>\n </li>\n <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref4-4\">\n <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref4_4-0\">\n ↑\n </a>\n </span>\n <span class=\"reference-text\">\n Sutton cited in \"Ken Mochizuki,\"\nContemporary Authors Online, Thomson Gale, 2008;\n <i>\n Publisher Weekly\n </i>\n , March 29, 1993, 55, accessed on Apr. 9, 2015 at\n <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-880000-01-4\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-880000-01-4\n </a>\n .\n </span>\n </li>\n <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref5-5\">\n <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref5_5-0\">\n ↑\n </a>\n </span>\n <span class=\"reference-text\">\n Fader,\n <i>\n Horn Book Magazine\n </i>\n ; Hurlburt,\n <i>\n School Library Journal\n </i>\n ;\n <i>\n Kirkus\n </i>\n .\n </span>\n </li>\n <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref6-6\">\n <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref6_6-0\">\n ↑\n </a>\n </span>\n <span class=\"reference-text\">\n <i>\n International Examiner\n </i>\n , June 7–20, 2008.\n </span>\n </li>\n </ol>\n </div>\n </div>\n <!-- \nNewPP limit report\nCached time: 20240418160739\nCache expiry: 86400\nDynamic content: false\nComplications: []\nCPU time usage: 0.026 seconds\nReal time usage: 0.034 seconds\nPreprocessor visited node count: 445/1000000\nPost‐expand include size: 7752/2097152 bytes\nTemplate argument size: 1228/2097152 bytes\nHighest expansion depth: 6/40\nExpensive parser function count: 0/100\nUnstrip recursion depth: 0/20\nUnstrip post‐expand size: 3348/5000000 bytes\nExtLoops count: 0\n-->\n <!--\nTransclusion expansion time report (%,ms,calls,template)\n100.00% 23.613 1 -total\n 13.42% 3.169 1 Template:Reflist\n 11.69% 2.760 1 Template:RelatedArticles\n 10.05% 2.373 1 Template:RGDatabox-Core\n 8.96% 2.116 1 Template:Databox-Books\n 6.17% 1.457 1 Template:AuthorByline\n 5.84% 1.380 1 Template:Published\n 5.83% 1.377 1 Template:RelatedArticlesSection\n 5.62% 1.327 1 Template:FindAtIA\n-->\n <!-- Saved in parser cache with key encycmw:pcache:idhash:1551-0!canonical and timestamp 20240418160739 and revision id 35592\n -->\n </div>\n</div>",
"findatia": "<div class=\"section\" id=\"Find_in_the_Digital_Library_of_Japanese_American_Incarceration\">\n <h2>\n <span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"Find_in_the_Digital_Library_of_Japanese_American_Incarceration\">\n Find in the Digital Library of Japanese American Incarceration\n </span>\n </h2>\n <div class=\"section_content\">\n <p>\n <b>\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://archive.org/details/baseballsavedus00moch\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n Baseball Saved Us\n </a>\n </b>\n </p>\n <p style=\"font-size:8pt;line-height:1.5;color: #aaa;\">\n This item has been made freely available in the\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://archive.org/details/digital-library-of-japanese-american-incarceration\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n Digital Library of Japanese American Incarceration\n </a>\n , a collaborative project with\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://archive.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n Internet Archive\n </a>\n .\n </p>\n <p>\n Might also like:\n <i>\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://resourceguide.densho.org/Barbed%20Wire%20Baseball%20(book)/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n Barbed Wire Baseball\n </a>\n </i>\n by Marissa Moss;\n <i>\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://resourceguide.densho.org/The%20Bracelet%20(book)/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n The Bracelet\n </a>\n </i>\n by Yoshiko Uchida;\n <i>\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://resourceguide.densho.org/Fish%20for%20Jimmy%20(book)/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n Fish for Jimmy\n </a>\n </i>\n by Katie Yamasaki\n </p>\n <div id=\"RelatedArticlesDisplay\">\n <div class=\"section\" id=\"Related_Articles\">\n <h2>\n <span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"Related_Articles\">\n Related Articles\n </span>\n </h2>\n <div class=\"section_content\">\n <p class=\"mw-empty-elt\">\n </p>\n <div id=\"RelatedArticlesSectionDisplay\">\n <div class=\"section\" id=\"\">\n <h3>\n <span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"\">\n </span>\n </h3>\n <div class=\"section_content\">\n <p class=\"mw-empty-elt\">\n </p>\n <ul>\n <li>\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"https://encyclopedia.densho.org/wiki/Sports_and_recreation_in_camp\" title=\"Sports and recreation in camp\">\n Sports and recreation in camp\n </a>\n </li>\n </ul>\n </div>\n </div>\n </div>\n </div>\n </div>\n </div>\n </div>\n</div>"
}