Abel's Island by William Steig

This book wasn't my favorite book, but it was pretty good. I liked that it had some illustrations in it, but it wasn't filled with them like a picture book.
One day Abel and Amanda(mice) went into the woods for a picnic. In the middle of their picnic it started pouring so Abel and Amanda ran to the first covered place they could find. The place that they found was a tree with other furry creatures inside. When everybody was looking at the rain Amanda's scarf blew off her neck. Abel left the tree and got her scarf, but he got blown away by the wind. He ended up on an island. He tried to get off the island every way he could: by swimming, sailing, stepping stones and even flying.

One day Abel met a frog and he became friends with the him. The waves slowed down and the frog left. Abel tried to get off of the island again. This time he succeeded by swimming and jumping onto near by rocks. He went home and lived a happy life with Amanda, his wife.

When I was reading this book, I thought it would end with Abel still on the island. I am happy that he did make it home.

The Lucky Baseball by Susanne Lieurance

This book is about a boy named Harry and his friend Mike who are excluded from baseball because they are Japanese-American.

In the beginning of the book, Harry goes down to a drawing for a contest at Mr.Weaver's General Store. When he gets there and the drawing starts, Harry's name gets pulled from the barrel. He wins a baseball signed by Joe DiMaggio and a chance to meet him.

Everything is normal until one day when the Japenese bomb Pearl Harbor.

Harry and all the other Japanese Americans are forced to go to a special camp that is off in the mountains, called Manzanar. They are sent there because the American government doesn't trust them. It is afraid they might help the Japanese by spying on special headquarters and sending messages to the Japanese.

When they are at Manzanar they get covered in dust and the food is not good—lots of canned fruit and lumps of rice. They have 20'x25' apartments with one window, one lightbulb and metal cots. While they are at the camps Harry's grandparents and his dad(Papa) volentered to be cooks at the mess hall. Harry decides to start a baseball game. He picks team captins: he and Mary. Then Chester (the bully) bumps Mary out and says that he is captain. Chester picks the date for the big game but what Harry dosen't know is that he can't go. It is on the same date as a big birthday that he will have to be the waiter for. What will he do? Will he go to the game or the birthday? What he tried to do was pretty clever…I hope you read the book to find out.

I was glad this book was historical fiction, because I learned about World War II. I never knew that there were internment camps in America. I don't think these camps were fair because the Japanese-Americans were being punished for something that they didn't do.