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Tsunami!
CCBC Review:
Ojiisan is watching from his home on the mountain as residents of his village in Japan celebrate the rice harvest. The old man stayed behind because he sensed something wasn’t right, and a rumbling beneath his feet provides the answer: earthquake. When Ojiisan looks to the sea he sees it’s “running away from the land!” Ojiisan watches 400 villagers far below rush toward the unusual sight unaware of what it means: tsunami! Frantic to warn them of the danger, he sets his crops on fire, knowing that when the villagers notice they will rush up the mountain to help extinguish the blaze. And they do. Their village is devoured by the waves, but 400 lives are saved. Kimiko Kajikawa’s story is based on a real man named Hamaguchi Goryou who saved his village when a tsunami hit Japan in 1896. In spare, dramatic account, the tension builds slowly and then explodes like the fury of the waves. Ed Young’s remarkable collage art is at once abstract—swaths of red orange and pink for the flames, chaotic tears of white for the violent sea—and detailed, with facial expressions reflecting the confusion and terror, and authentic period clothing. ©2009 Cooperative Children’s Book CenterIllustrated by Ed Young
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 5-9
Age Range:
PreK-Early Elementary (Ages 4-7)
Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10)
Format:
Picture book
Subjects:
Disasters
Folk and Fairy Tales
Historical Fiction
Japanese and Japanese Americans
Diversity subject:
Asian
On CCBC Booklist:
Literary Science 1: K-5 Mentor Texts
Publisher:
Philomel
Publish Year: 2009
Pages: 32
ISBN: 9780399250064
CCBC Location: Non-Fiction, 398 Kajikawa