Ojiisan is the wealthiest person in his small village. His wisdom has people walking the crooked track up the mountain to ask for his advice. Ojiisan decides not to go to the rice harvest celebration in the village because something does not feel right to him. So he watches the celebration from high above on the mountain. When the first earthquake comes it doesn't stop the celebration below. Then Ojiisan sees the sea moving away from the shore, he realizes what is happening - tsunami! But how ca More...

The purpose of a picture book? Think carefully now. The answer’s not going to jump up and bite you on the bum. Does it exist primarily to instill a love of literature? A love of art? To teach children to read? Is it an artistic form in and of itself, separate entirely from its practical purposes? Is it made to please adults with children as a secondhand afterthought, or does it please all persons regardless of age? Such questions do not always come up after reading one of these 32-odd page creat More...

This is my read aloud for this week -- for all grade levels, K-5. In light of what has happened in Japan, I want our students to get a sense of understanding of what is happening in the world around them. I choked up several times while reading this book this morning.

Tsunami is a beautiful story, scary but human and satisfying.

The story Tsunami by Kimiko Kajikawa, is about a man named Ojiisan, who was the oldest and wealthiest man in the village, he was watching all of the people in the village at the rice ceremony from his balcony. He didn't go that day because he had a funny feeling about it and preferred to just watch from the balcony. And as he looked through the horizon he saw a monster wave pulling away from the beach and he knew there was a tsunami heading their way. The rest of the story talks about him riskin More...

Long ago in rural Japan, a grandfather was tending his rice fields high on a mountaintop overlooking his seaside village. That day, his family went down to the village to celebrate the rice harvest, but Ojiisan, the grandfather, told his family that something did not feel right. So he and his grandson Tada stayed behind on the mountain. Later that day, an earthquake struck, “a long, slow, spongy motion.” But earthquakes are common in Japan, and this earthquake was not strong enough to alarm anyo More...

Historical Fiction review:

This book began a long time ago in Japan with a wealthy rice farmer named Ojiisan. He lived near the sea in a cottage that was on a mountain. Ojiisan's name meant grandfather. People often walked up the hill to ask him for advice. One day his family prepared to walk down the hill to the rice harvest, but Ojiisan didn't want to go. He said something didn't feel right so he and his grandson stayed home. They watched the festival from the top of the mountain. Ojiisan felt More...

Published in 2009 by Philomel
Interest Level: 5th-8th Grade

This was an interesting perspective of a Tsunami and its effect on people. The main characters of the story, the grandfather and grandson, set fire to their grain to save the villagers who are to busy celebrating in a festival to realize that a giant Tsunami wave is coming. I was somewhat confused by the story, since in my understanding a Tsunami is a hurricane, but then I realized that it is a giant tidal wave. The illustrations are in a More...

I really love the story- its message of people being more important than wealth is really beautiful. Ed Young's pictures, as always are beautiful. Despite using a collage style, the characters have a lot of individuality and expression unlike some others that I've read recently, Listen to the Wind by Greg Mortenson coming to mind. However, as beautiful as they are, they are usually too busy to appreciate. The people hidden behind the ocean spray on one set of pages are almost indistinguishable. More...

Caldecott winner Ed Young and writer Kajikawa team up to create a stunning picture book about one man’s simple sacrifice in the face of a natural disaster. Somehow Ojiisan, the wisest, oldest, and wealthiest man in the village, feels that something isn’t right the day the autumn day the villagers are to celebrate the rice harvest. When an earthquake strikes, the villagers are not frightened, but soon “the sea was running away from the land.” Ojiisan knew that it was a tsunami, and that he must g More...

Great story about a sensitive rice farmer who knew what was most important and how to take care of people - based on a true story

Tsunami is adapted from Lafcadio Hearn’s story “A Living God” is a story about a rice farmer name Ojiisan which mean “grandfather” who lived in a Japanese village by the sea. Ojiisan is the wealthiest person in the village and lived on a high mountain that overlooked the village and the sea. One day during the rice harvest ceremony approached a tsunami that only Ojiisan saw from his mountain top cottage. Oijjsan made the ultimate sacrifice to save all the villagers who were celebrating the rice More...

Tsunami! is a folklore picturebook for nursery and primary readers.

The book simply tells the story of an old, wise villager in Japan who upon feeling an earthquake realizes it is not a "normal" earthquake for the area. He and his grandson are the only villagers not near the beach and he makes a heroic effort to save the rest of the village from the impending tsunami.

This book has amazing pictures, which are done in a torn paper style of art. The colors are vibrant and the paper used was texture More...

WOW.

This book tells the legend of how Ojiisan, the wise and wealthy village elder, saves his village from a thundering tsunami. Ojiisan watches as villagers gathered to celebrate the rice harvest and only he feels the tremor of a slight earthquake. Sensing the village is in danger and trusting his instincts, he sets fire to his entire rice crop to warn the villagers of impending danger. This visually compelling story of bravery and selflessness helps mark the first anniversary of the March 11 earthq More...

My niece informed me that she wants to give this book five stars, so five stars it is! She was quite taken with Tsunami, which is a based on a true story about a man named Hamaguchi Goryou who, in 1854, saved many in his village from a tsunami that followed an earthquake.

As the danger of the tsunami grew in this book, my niece tumbled further into the story, and by the time the tsunami struck the village, she was literally sitting on the edge of her seat, just about as close to the book as she c More...

This is a beautiful children's picture book! It tells the story of rice farmers in a seaside village. The oldest and wealthiest man of the village lives up the hill. He decides not to go down to join the others on the day of the rice harvest celebration. He feels a small earthquake, and from his vantage point up the hill he sees the sea run away! Being an old and wise one, he knows what that means. But how can he warn all the other villagers?

The pictures in this book are extraordinary! All geome More...

Beautifully and simply written, with abstract, but meaningful illustrations, I found myself loving this book! This book tells the story of a wealthy Japanese man who risks his own riches in order to save the lives of others in his village. I felt that this story shed light on the importance of putting others before oneself and that it portrays this message perfectly to young readers. The pictures in this book also show a natural disaster in a very abstract way that forces the developing reader t More...

I LOVE Ed Young's illustrations in this book. It's amazing how bits of paper and collage can create such a sense of atmosphere and movement. Tsunami would be a great book to introduce children to the natural disasters. It would also a great teaching tool for how simple acts can make someone a hero.

Non-Fiction
From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Kindergarten-Grade 3—Wealthy Ojiisan suffers a feeling of foreboding as he watches colorful rice festival celebrations from his cottage high above More...

In the interest of embracing cultural literacy in my classroom, I searched my file cabinet filled with picture books for something to read out loud. I came across a galley I obtained a few years ago of Tsunami by Kimiko Kajiikawa.

Tsunami is folk Japanese story about wealthy rice farmer who sets fire to his crops in order to warn villagers of an oncoming tsunami. His sacrifice saved 400 people from being carried out to sea.

I read this book aloud in less than ten minutes to my fourth graders. They More...

Intense. That's the only word I can use to describe this story. The illustrations are amazing and go well with the text to describe the intensity of the experience and the emotions that Ojiisan felt, knowing that if he didn't act quickly, his whole village would perish.

This is a great story, and surprisingly, not too scary. Although I would recommend it for children 5 and up. We really enjoyed this story, and having lived on a Japanese island for 4 years (Okinawa) and now a Hawaiian island for 4 More...

If after reading the description of this book you thought, "Huh, that sounds familiar," then you may have read The Wave by Margaret Hodges (illustrated by Blair Lent) - a 1960 Caldecott Honor Book. Frankly, I liked the text of that one much better. Or possibly I just preferred the tone of the book overall? But, I rather preferred the pictures in this newer version. I must admit, though, they were a good bit scarier, which took out some of the feel-good heroic emphasis of the story. I thought th More...

This story captures the story of the catastrophic tsunami event over in the Middle East through the eyes of a man, Ojiisan, observing the disaster from his balcony. He chooses not to go to the rice ceremony that the rest of the people are attending...knowing that something bad was about to happen. This book serves as a great way to introduce students to the destruction, devestation, and surprising arrival of this historical tsunami and lends itself to endless discussion (such as "how did this ch More...

An old wealthy farmer feels an earthquake as the village is celebrating the harvest. This doesn't feel like a normal earthquake to the farmer. As he watches the sea pull out from the beach, he tells his grandson to set the rice fields on fire. The fire draws the villagers up the mountain. When the tsunami hits the village all of the people are safe. They are so grateful to the old wealthy farmer that they build a temple in his honor.

The artwork is collage with lots of cool paper and I found mys More...

Living in Ohio, I don't have much occasion to be scared of giant waves, but this one has some very vivid, mind-bending illustrations -- the torn paper is perfect for this. Ojiisan, the oldest and wealthiest man in his Japanese village, feels one day that "something is not right." There is a small earthquake, and from his house on the mountain, he sees the sea running away from the land. Ojiisan knows what is coming, but all of the curious villagers have already run out onto the newly-formed beac More...

I found this story remarkably touching. I don’t know if it’s an old folk tale or whether I’ve read the same story in another book, but the plot was very familiar to me. The themes of sacrifice and altruism are paramount here.

The illustrations are incredibly special. I love collage and the technique is used wonderfully here.

However, I have had only two recurrent nightmares in my life: one that started when I was eight and one (about tsunamis) that began when I was fourteen. The tsunami one starte More...

Interesting story about an old man who saved his village by burning his rice fields. The blaze brought them up from the ocean floor, which they'd run out to explore when the water disappeared. This probably has special meaning in our family because Dad talks about weather and tsunamis and such on occasion. The pictures look to be created by ripped paper and were lovely, though occasionally hard to figure out. Boys liked it, but we only read it once before returning it.

This book teaches more than just Science, while it introduces students to words like Tsunami, and Typhoons, it also teaches about character development. I would incorporate this book and use it for Science and classroom community building skills. After reading the book for science we would talk about earthquakes and waves. As part of building and maintaining a classroom community, we would discuss and talk about moral dilemmas and character development.

This book is about a tsunami that took place hundreds of years ago. A wealthy man sets fire to his own rice fields in order to warn the village below of the impending tsunami. The illustrations are amazing and the story is a riveting one of personal sacrifice for the good of all. The fact that this is historical would also help explain the current tsunami to young children without it being quite as scary.
--Rachel
J/398.20952/Kaj

This retelling of a tsunami in Japan more than a hundred years ago includes the fact that a monument to Ojiisan, the village leader sacrificed his wealth to rescue the people from the coming wave. Ed young's collage art is both incredibly realistic and imaginative. With the more recent Japanese tsunami still in the news, this title works well for discussions of both the science and the social impact of natural disasters.