Written by J. Torres and illustrated by David Namisato, Stealing Home tells the story of how baseball helped a young boy through hard times. While I have read many books about the Japanese American experience during World War II, Stealing Home was my first read about Japanese Canadians. Highly recommend this juvenile graphic novel told from the perspective of Sandy Saito as he looks back to his childhood in 1940s Vancouver.

Growing up in Vancouver in the 1940s, Sandy was an eight year old whose biggest worry was when he could watch the Asahi baseball team play. He spent his time reading comic books, going to school, and cheering on the Asahi, the pride of the Japanese Canadian community. At home, Sandy spent time with his younger brother, his mother, and his father, a doctor with his own office in the community. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the lives of all North Americans of Japanese descent changed. First the changes were small, but eventually his family was sent to a remote internment camp without his father. His father was at a camp far away, where they spent months separated. Sandy, his brother, and his mother found ways to cope with the harshness of the camp. Eventually baseball made its way to the camp. This proves to be fortuitous for Sandy as it helps him deal with the big emotions he has been facing and the circumstances he has been dealt.

Stealing Home was incredibly emotional, but seeing this story through the eyes of an eight-year-old definitely softened some of the harshness of that period. Although this is a fictional story, the author clearly thoroughly researched this subject. There are also notes with more background information and other important topics central to the story at the end of the book. I recommend this graphic novel for those looking for a book that deals with the internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II with sensitivity and a unique perspective.