Wat Kept Playing: The Inspiring Story of Wataru Misaka and His Rise to the NBA

PreS-Gr 3–Young basketball enthusiasts today may not connect the history of the game to Japan or World War II. A Japanese American man named Wat Misaka served in WWII and broke the color line of what would become the National Basketball Association (NBA). Misaka, the son of immigrant parents from Japan, was born in America and loved being Japanese and American. Sadly, he often did not feel America loved him back. The one place where he knew he belonged was the basketball court. When, as the result of the U.S.’s conflict with Japan, Japanese were put in internment camps, Misaka could not make sense of what was going on around him. Despite racism on and off the court, he kept doing the one thing he knew and understood—playing basketball. Like Cheryl Kim’s recent Wat Take His Shot: The Life Legacy of Basketball Hero Wataru Misaka, which works for slightly older readers, this title doesn’t sentimentalize or play down the overwhelming obstacles Misaka faced—not only racism and returning to the game after serving in the military, but at 5’7,” his relatively small stature. Huey and Kang have done an outstanding job of bringing Misaka’s story to life, including his heroic journey to find out where he belonged in this world.