A Diamond in the Desert by Kathryn Fitzmaurice
We read the book A Diamond in the Desert by Kathryn Fitzmaurice. The book was about how Tetsu, a 12 year old boy, and his family went to a Japanese internment camp in Gila River after Pearl Harbor was bombed. His family had to go the the internment camp because they are Japanese. The story shows what Tetsu went through, his everyday life, and what friends he made in the internment camp. Also, later on, the people in the internment camp made a baseball diamond (or baseball field), and it also shows Tetsu’s love for baseball.
I think the big ideas are hope and love. The theme for hope is: Never lose hope, because everyone still has a chance. I think this is the theme for hope, because Tetsu and the people in Gila River never lost hope for a better life, and at the end, Tetsu was freed with family. This is a passage where I think Tetsu and Kimi both had hope, “Please feed Lefty. From, Kimi.” I took it to the recreation barrack and asked around for an envelope.” I think this shows how Tetsu has hope that Mr. Bobkin, his neighbor, found his dog, Lefty, and it shows this because he asked everyone for an envelope. I think the theme for love is: You can take everything away from someone, but you can’t take away love. While moving to Gila River, Tetsu lost his home, his dog, his friends, and his belongings, but he didn’t lose his love. This is a part of the book where Kimi got hurt, and Tetsu was showing his love: “Mama and I sat across from each other for two days in the infirmary, waiting for Kimi to wake up.” This shows how he loved Kimi so much that he waited for her for a whole two days.
The non-fiction resources I used were Youtube, books, and Google. For Youtube, we found videos about the Japanese Internment camps. We used the book I Am an American by Jerry Stanley. This book put small stories about some things people went through, and it also helped us understand the situation. Google helped by giving a lot of facts about Japanese internment camps.
From the book I Am an American, I learned why the Japanese were treated really bad. I found out that they were sent to internment camps because Japanese warplanes bombed a US Navy Base in Pearl Harbor, and I didn’t know that before. Videos on Youtube helped me understand what people went through during the Japanese Internment. Sites on Google showed me timelines of the Jaanese Internment, and showed me what parts of the book were true. In the book A Diamond in the Desert it mentioned that Eleanor Roosevelt visited Gila River, but I was unsure, so I searched it up on Google, and found out that Eleanor Roosevelt really DID visit Gila River.
In the story A Diamond in the Desert, I think Tetsu had the power because he was the one who told the story, and also he got us to care about him and his story. Tetsu was also the only one who shared inner his thoughts: “I could not think about the little girl named Akiko anymore, and how she fell into the water.” I think this is a bit special because Tetsu didn’t say this to anyone, and only the reader knew what he was thinking. Overall, I think the Americans and soldiers had the power because they could control the Japanese, and make them do what they wanted the Japanese to do. The Americans made the Japanese go to internment camps after Pearl Harbor was bombed, and they also emotionally made Japanese feel like outcasts, “- even Marty Burns, the shortstop on my team that I’d known since first grade-their faces said: I can see you’re Japanese. And those pilots who bombed Pearl Harbor, maybe one of them is your brother or your uncle-how are we supposed to be sure? You’ve got no choice but to leave, because we’re not buying your papa’s crops or letting him head up our community. We’re not letting you play first anymore.” This is what Tetsu said how Americans acted.
Another person that had the power was Kimi. She had the power of love throughout the whole book. She cared for everyone. This is a passage of the story where Kimi got angry because Tetsu brought home a rattle from a rattlesnake, “When Kimi saw the rattle that evening, she sat up from her cot where she’d been resting with her cardboard box of lizards next to her. ‘Where’d you get this?’ she asked. ‘We had to kill it. I would’ve bit me.’
Tears came to her eyes.” This shows that Kimi care for everyone. Even rattlesnakes.
The only voice and opinion we heard was Tetsu’s side of the story. The story was written in Tetsu’s point of view, so the reader knew Tetsu’s thoughts, and what he was going through. The voices we didn’t hear were the Americans, the soldiers, and the other people in Gila River Internment camp. I think they should have put more point of views, so we know thoughts of different people.
A character relationship that changed were between Tetsu and George. At first when George first met Tetsu, George wasn’t very nice to him. They met at block 67, and George didn’t make a good first impression, “‘Where are you going?’ the oldest one [George] asked me. He smirked and showed me a broken front tooth. He looked like the fighting type. ‘Nowhere,’ I said. He squinted at me, spit in the dirt by my shoes, and the dust swirled up behind him like it was getting out of his way. ‘You’re coming with us to the canal,’ he said.” This is the part where George and Tetsu first met, and George was bossing Tetsu around. Later on in the story, George and Tetsu became really close friends. George was probably Tetsu’s closest friend. They did many things together, like how they both were looking for Horse together, “After dinner, George and I headed to block 67, but found nothing.” I also think that they have a similarity, they both care for their friends… In this case, they cared for Horse. Another time, Kimi’s fish died, so George and Horse showed their respect, “Horse came with George and me to the pet cemetery.” I think this shows how close Horse, George, and Tetsu are.
My big takeaway is all the history I learned from reading and researching this book. I learned about the Japanese Internment camps, the Pearl Harbor bombing, and how the Americans treated the Japanese. This book helped me realize and understand how the Japanese felt while they were in the internment camps. I think the themes my group and I learned were things that could apply in my life today. Hope and love are important. Also, like Kimi did, we should learn to love EVERYTHING.
