This is the Spanish version of Passage to Freedom, a 30-page picture book. A remarkable and inspiring story of a Japanese diplomat who disobeyed his government by writing hundreds of visas to Jewish refugees trying to flee Lithuania. With compassion and courage, Sugihara places his own future in jeopardy to save others. Excellent! Don't miss the afterward to see what happened to the Sugihara family.

I'm a 6th grade student who likes to read. I thought the book was interesting. It had good illustrations. If you don't know what a visa is in this story it's like a passport. I don't want to spoil the story for you so I won't tell you anymore of the story.

It should be required reading for U.S. immigration and consular officials. Having lawful orders to obey (Sugihara's instructions from his government were lawful, and no different from instructions given to US officials) does not absolve one from responsibility for others. This is an important lesson for children and adults.

The illustrations are haunting.

It is a book that you and your children will not soon forget.

A wonderful book, with an important story. Mr. Sugihara was one of those Japanese who do not follow sheepishly every instruction given to him by his government, and thank God! Using his conscience and humanitarian spirit, he helped saved the lives of many Jews, and he did this by disobeying instructions of his own government, which at that time in history was allied with the Nazis. Not only does this story deserve to be told, it needs to be told to an international audience. Mr. Mochizuki has written one of the most important children's books of the 20th century! Bravo!

Ken Mochizuki's Beacon Hill Boys tells the story of Dan Inagaki, a typical teenage boy searching for love, acceptance, and his heritage during the 1970s. Dan's parents were forced into internment camps during World War II because of their Japanese heritage and his father fought for the United States during that same war; yet, Dan knows nothing of this history. He feels forced to petition for a comparative history class at his high school in order to discover what his parents will not reveal. While Dan and his friends worry about the Vietnam War draft, struggle to figure out girls, and make decisions about drugs, he is also fighting against the Japanese-American stereotype, his overachiever older brother's shadow, and the school administration.
While this book encourages young adults to question, it also paints a picture of victories that are easily won. Mochizuki understandably leaves out a bulky history lesson but leaves anyone without prior knowledge of that time period wondering. Hopefully, Beacon Hill Boys will motivate further reading about the internment of Japanese Americans. I recommend this book for any young adult (or adult) who has felt the pressures of identity, prejudice, or family expectations. This book could also be a starting point for anyone with no knowledge of the Japanese Internment history.

This is not the typical coming of age story; it is the story of what is was like to be a Japanese American teenager in the early 1970s. Racial issues, pressures to conform, family dynamitcs, peer pressure, and more are important to the plot. The issues of the 1970s are packaged together with the story of a junior in high school in racially diverse Beacon Hill in Seattle. While this is fiction, one cannot help but think that this is semi-autobiographical. The story seems perfect as a companion to understanding the 1970s.

I liked the book and understand the stuggles and culture of Japanese Amercians better after reading it. I do think that too many characters might have been introduced, and if I read it again feel like I should list the characters and briefly identify them so I can remember them better when they appear again in the book. That's OK, though, since this book begs to be read more than once.

Our 4th grade class at Lamar Elementary in Arkansas thought the book was very interesting. Especially interesting was the information on the Japanese-Americans being taken to the camps. We felt that the book was sad because they had to go to camps. We also thought it was neat because it tells about the past and history that we never knew before. This book tells a lot of history. It was a two thumbs up!
We didn't know about the Japanese kept as hostages.

Ken's father spent WWII in the Minidoka Japanese-American Internment Camp in Idaho. Ken, the author was raised in Seattle. Shorty is stuck in the barracks without friends, surrounded by noise and boredom. No one has anything to do. His dad sees verves fraying and has an idea, Build a baseball diamond and organize games. The men make the diamond, the women improvise the uniforms. Games are scheduled under the gaze of the guard towers. Shorty scores a big hit under nervous angry pressure. After the war, he continues to be taunted, but learns self respect under the pressure of adversity. The benefit from this book, is that there is no whitewash. It is honest, and yes, he was called Shorty, cuz life is like that.

This book tells the story of a boy inside an internment camp during WWII. It deals with a lot of feelings, yet shows how determined the detainees were to survive and create an acceptable life for themselves. The story demonstrates that one must continue to strive for a good life even when conditions hold little promise for happiness.

I wanted to like this book. The theme is one I think important. However, it was very troubling. First, the little boy is unable to speak up for himself. It's a poor message to Asian children. Second, the boy's father and uncle have to "speak" for him by appearing in uniform. All due respect to the veterans of the armed services, but why couldn't the boy resolve this problem himself instead of having grown ups do it for him? And what about heroines? This book fails to measure up to its promise. Save your money.

For too long mainstream American clung to the idea that blue eyes and blond hair equalled an "all-American kid." In times of war, the resulting prejudice against our own citizens of Japanese descent led to some of the most shameful actions in our Nation's history. Here, a young boy's message that he is American is bolstered by the appearance of men in his family in their American military service uniforms. Heavier in its message than BASEBALL SAVED US (an outstanding title by the same author), the theme of HEROES nevertheless should be shared again and again.

This is a beautiful book. I was particularly moved by the quiet, gentle way the father and uncle helped the little boy, by showing his friends that their views were completely wrong, without berating or lecturing them, and then providing them with a new game to play. I am a bit baffled as to why one reviewer would demand to know why there are no heroines in the book. That's not what the story is about, is why. It's a gem of a book and to carp at it for not following someone else's agenda is staggeringly unfair.