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Gr 3–5—Focusing on her subject's strength of character and love of baseball, Moss introduces readers to Kenichi Zenimura (1900–'68). At barely five feet tall, Zeni was hardly a natural athlete; nonetheless, he developed great prowess as a player and coach. Before World War II, he played exhibition games alongside Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, and toured Japan, where he was born. His family moved to Hawaii when he was a child and later to Fresno, California. When war broke out, Zenimura, his wife, and teenage sons were sent to the Gila River internm...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Based on the real-life story of Kenichi Zenimura, known as the father of Japanese American baseball, Moss's story relates Zeni's love of the game and his accomplishments in the Fresno Nisei League and the Fresno Twilight League. Only five feet tall, he was a star, and even played in an exhibition game with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in 1927; later he became a coach and manager. But after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, when Americans of Japanese descent living on the West Coast wer...Log In or Sign Up to Read More