Book Review: Tsunami! by Kimiko Kajikawa, illustrated by Ed Young

This book has everything!  Beautiful text, timed just right to be simultaneously horrifying and heartwarming, suspense, excitement, a wise man's puzzling act. A colorful celebration followed by raging fires and massive destruction, a hero, then a happy ending. Oh, and of course, amazing artwork.

Tsunami is a tale told in the folk tradition of a Japanese village by the sea. Ojisan, a rich but wise old rice farmer, lived on the mountain high above the village and the sea. One day, as the village was celebrating the rice harvest, Ojisan had a strange feeling, and decided not to go. "Something does not feel right," he told his grandson. Sure enough, they felt a mild earthquake rumble under their feet, but then it was gone. Ojisan still did not feel right. Then he noticed that "THE SEA WAS RUNNING AWAY FROM THE LAND!" Because the celebrating villagers did not understand the danger, they chased the sea away as it exposed smooth sand. But Ojisan understood, and came up with a plan to save the four hundred villagers who were too far away to hear his shouts.

It goes without saying the any book illustrated by Ed Young will be wonderful to look at, but Tsunami is superlative even among his books. The illustrations are composed of cut-paper collage, but the details are exceptionally stunning-- from the village celebration of parading men and kimono-ed women, to the breathtaking spread of the great wall of water headed for the seaside village. The fibers of the paper create the churning whitewater breaking over a sea of blackness, engulfing the shore. Exquisite.

The text, however, is even better than the illustrations. Kimiko Kajikawa adapted this story from a short story published in 1897, and has done so perfectly. The language and pacing is so perfect that I wanted to savor every sentence. Ojisan's quiet wisdom was so clear on every page, and his kindness and horror were equally clear, in the all-caps sentences: THE SEA WAS RUNNING AWAY FROM THE LAND! On the double-page spread following the wall of water, Young depicts a churning flow of water and village architecture. Kajikawa writes, "Then the sea drew back, roaring, tearing out the land as it went. Twice, thrice, four times, the furious sea devoured the village."

Every page of Tsunami filled me with different emotions, from peace to horror, to cheering, to despair. Until the ending, after Ojisan has saved the villagers, though not the village, his generosity and kindness overwhelmed me. I closed the book, smiling and swallowing hard.

Tsunami by Kimiko Kajikawa, illustrated by Ed Young