Bat 6

by Virginia Euwer Wolff

In small town, post-World War Oregon, twenty-one sixth-grade girls recount the story of an annual softball game, during which one girl's bigotry comes to the surface. Set in a small Oregon town just after World War II, this is the powerful tale of a community shattered by its reaction to two young newcomers, Aki and Shazam. Told from 21 different points of view, "Bat 6" explores the subject of Japanese-American racial prejudice after the war. Photographs and text present an up-close look at varied aspects of the lives of professional basketball players, from pre-game preparations, practice, game action, signing autographs, and more. A Japanese American girl who has just spent 6 years in an internment camp meets a bitter girl whose father was killed in Pearl Harbor, & the two become rivals in baseball in this story narrated by the members of the opposing teams.