Dear Ichiro [Hardcover]

Jean Davies Okimoto (Author), Doug Keith (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 9, 2002 | Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up

Eight-year-old Henry and his friend Oliver are having a fight. When Henry gets a time-out, he wishes Oliver would get one too — for life. “I hate Oliver,” he says. “He’s my enemy. I’ll hate him forever.” The day takes a turn when Grampa Charlie takes Henry to a baseball game. Charlie, a World War II veteran, cheers on the Seattle Mariners’ Ichiro Suzuki and Kazuhiro Sasaki, and his enthusiasm for the Japanese players paves the way for Henry and Oliver’s reconciliation. In the tradition of Baseball Saved Us, Jean Davies Okimoto’s heartwarming story and Doug Keith’s whimsical illustrations offer a message of hope.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3-When Henry squabbles with his best friend, Oliver is sent home and Henry is absolutely convinced he will never play with him again. That afternoon, Henry's great-grandfather takes him to a Seattle Mariners baseball game. When team members Ichiro Suzuki and Kazuhiro Sasaki appear on the field, Grampa Charlie cheers along with the crowd. However, he also recalls fighting against the Japanese in World War II and marvels at the positive changes he could never have anticipated all those years ago. Henry applies his grandfather's thoughts about war and reconciliation to his friendship with Oliver and writes a letter to Suzuki sharing his grandfather's ideas. While the message of forgive and forget is the principal point of the story, it is delivered with innocent appeal. Brightly colored illustrations capture the boys' anger as well as the excitement of an afternoon at the ballpark. The introduction of actual baseball players adds authenticity, and notes provide a brief history of the emergence of baseball in Japan and the arrival of Japanese players on the American scene.
Alicia Eames, New York City Public Schools
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

K-Gr. 2. Red-haired Henry and his curly-topped friend Oliver are messing around in Henry's room when Oliver spills grape drink on the stuffie Henry still sleeps with and then compounds the damage by dropping it in the toilet. Now Oliver is Henry's enemy. Then Henry and his great-grandpa, Charlie, head off to a Mariners game where they cheer outfielder Ichiro and the pitcher Kazuhiro Sasaki, and Grampa explains how amazing it is to be rooting for Japanese players. Long ago, when Grampa Charlie was in the army, he thought Americans and Japanese would be enemies forever. Henry and Grampa talk about how enemies can get to be friends, and Henry thinks about how maybe he and Oliver could be friends again, even writing a letter to Ichiro, explaining his hopes for getting along with Oliver just like baseball players from different countries can play together. The story is heavy on the message, but it also lightly conveys a certain amount about history and good behavior. Keith's bright, realistic illustrations capture the boys, their family relationships, and baseball with shining energy. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Sasquatch Books (August 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570613737
• ISBN-13: 978-1570613739
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,234,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jean Davies Okimoto's latest book, The Love Ceiling, was a winner of a 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Award. She is also the recipient of the American Library Association "Best Books for Young Adults" Award, the International Reading Association's Reader's Choice Award, the IRA/CBC Young Adults' Choice Award, the Parents' Choice Award, the Washington Governor's Award, the 1993 Maxwell Medallion for Best Children's Book of the Year, and two of her books have been recognized as Smithsonian Notable Books. In 2007 she received the Green Earth Book Award from the Newton Marasco Foundation and in 2008 the Green Prize for Sustainable Literature honor book, a national award given by the Santa Monica Public Library.

Her publishers include Atlantic Monthly Press, Putnam, Little, Brown & Co., Dell, Scholastic, HarperCollins, and the Simul Press in Japan which has published Japanese editions of her novels My Mother Is Not Married To My Father and It's Just Too Much. Her short stories have also appeared in four Delacourte anthologies, Short Stories by Outstanding Writers for Young Adults. Shelley Duvall produced an animated version of Blumpoe the Grumpoe Meets Arnold the Cat for the series "Bedtime Stories" which was narrated by John Candy and appeared on HBO and Showtime. In connection with her non-fiction title, Boomerang Kids: How to Live with Adult Children who Return Home, she has appeared on the Today Show, the CBS Morning Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and CNN.

Her one-act play, Hum it Again, Jeremy has been produced in schools in Vancouver, Toronto and New York. The Northwest Asian American Theater in Seattle produced the world premiere of Uncle Hideki based on her novel Talent Night and in 2006 produced Uncle Hideki and the Empty Nest. Book-it Repertory Theatre produced The Eclipse of Moonbeam Dawson based on her novel by the same name.

Her other titles include Norman Schnurman, Average Person, a mystery, Who Did It, Jenny Lake?, Jason's Women, Molly By Any Other Name, and Take A Chance, Gramps! which was a Junior Library Guild selection, named to the Lone Star State Reading List, and nominated for the Mark Twain Award and the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award.

A Place For Grace, published by Sasquatch Books, was the first picture book for a general audience to feature a hearing dog and a deaf character and was praised by Smithsonian as "One of this year's most charming and large-hearted offerings." No Dear, Not Here a picture book about the marbled murrelets, endangered seabirds and their quest for a nest in the Pacific Northwest, is also a Sasquatch title and was designated a 1995 Smithsonian Notable Book for Children.

A member of PEN American Center, the Author's Guild and the Dramatists Guild, she has a master's degree in psychology from Antioch University and is the founder of the Seattle Reading Awards, which recognizes the fifth grade students in the Seattle Public Schools who have shown the most improvement in reading. The program focuses on Chapter One, Bilingual and Special Education students and she has served as its co-chair since the awards began under the sponsorship of the Seattle Reading Association in 1986.

She and her husband Joe live on Vashon Island, Washington. Together they have four grown children, six grandchildren and a dog who thinks it's a person.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Modern Tale of Reconciliation, May 12, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Dear Ichiro (Hardcover)

This is a great children's book with a terrific message for both children and adults. Henry and his friend Oliver have a terrible quarrel, and then Grandpa Charlie comes to take Henry to a Seattle Mariners game. Henry tells Grandpa Charlie that Oliver is now his enemy. Grandpa Charlie and Henry both very much admire Ichiro Suzuki, and Grandpa Charlie tells Henry that at one time he thought of Japanese people as the enemy. Henry asks questions and Grandpa Charlie explains about World War II and says that people want to put the past behind them and live in peace. In the end Henry and Oliver resolve their differences. Because children already feel an affinity for Ichiro this story will be of high interest. The lovely writing and beautiful illustrations make this a very high quality picture book. I've read Dear Ichiro to both second and fourth graders, and they all loved it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book with a wonderful message, April 13, 2009

By 

W. Shigeta (Honolulu, HI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dear Ichiro (Hardcover)

We have bought over 10 of these books to give to friends, family, and my kids' teachers as the story is wonderful. My son loves Ichiro and the Mariners, so of course he loved the book, but it was also a good chance to open up discussions about conflicts, friendships, and forgiveness. All the teachers we have given this book to also love it. The reading level is probably around 3rd grade, but it's a great book to read aloud to classes from preschool - 5th grade and then to discuss after. Highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars A heartwarming and enthusiastically recommended picture book, November 14, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dear Ichiro (Hardcover)

Dear Ichiro is a gentle and enjoyable picture book illustrated by Doug Keith and written by Jean Davies Okimoto that celebrates baseball as a sport cherished in both America and Japan. A young boy gets into an angry fight with his best friend, and vows to hate his former friend forever... but when he sees his grandfather, a World War II veteran, cheering for Japanese baseball players then the boy learns that it's possible for enemies to become friends again. A welcome addition for school and community library collections, Dear Ichiro is a heartwarming and enthusiastically recommended picture book story.