A Diamond in the Desert
Scott Gibbons
Gila River Baseball-A Diamond in the Desert by Kathryn Fitzmaurice
This story is about a Japanese boy named Tetsu and how he stays in an internment camp in Arizona. He stays there from August of 1942 until the Spring of 1945. They were forced to go there after the bombing of pearl harbor. Lots of interesting things happen here. First, they made a baseball field with his friends Kyo, Ben, and Zuke. Other major parts of the story talk about how to get out of the camp and his sister, Kishi, running away from camp.
Tetsu finds many conflicts along the way. But the big conflict is a character vs. society conflict. He is trying to live in a new society than what he was used to. He had never lived in a place like Gila River so it was difficult for him to make friends there and live there
Finding his Father
One big turning points in the story is when Tetsu sees his dad for the first time since they were sent to Gila River.
Building a Field
A big moment for Tetsu and a big turning point in the story is when Tetsu and his friends build a baseball diamond.
Going to Gila River
The biggest turning point in the book which affected the whole story is when they moved to Gila River Camp. Before that they lived with their dog, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor all Japanese had to move to camps. Tetsu and his family couldn’t bring their dog.
Talented Tetsu
Story Place in Time
November 7, 1944- Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president of the United States
April 30, 1945- Adolf Hitler committed suicide because he knew he was going to lose World War II
September 2, 1945- The Japanese surrendered from World War II
March, 1958- The Beatles formed their band to be one of the best rock bands
January 3, 1959- Alaska became part of the United States
November 22, 1963- The 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas Texas
September 11, 2001- Nearly 3,000 people died when a group called al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger jets and crashed into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon
Going to an internment camp
In 1942, all Japanese had to go to internment camps because USA was taking part of World War 2 against Japan. Page 3, “After Executive Order 9066 was issued, ordering all persons of Japanese ancestry to internment camps...”
Not a Summer Camp
The Japanese were sent to camps all over the world, in the desert, the forest, in all environments. The main character Tetsu, was sent to a camp a desert in Arizona. The streets in the camp do not have normal names like, “North Street,” each street has a number sequence. Page 4“...Tetsu Kishi, Butte Camp, Block 28-12-B, Rivers, Arizona.
Life at Gila River
The houses at the camps were not like the houses we have today, or even like houses that American people had. Page 16, “Then Mama, swept the dust out of our twenty-by-twenty-four-foot room and hung a sheet for privacy to make a sleeping area. And she never said anything about what we left behind, or how we were supposed to live with a sheet for a wall. She just sent me for straw to fill the mattresses...”