Tsunami
by Kamiko Kajikawa and Illustrated by Ed Young
A wealthy rice farmer, Ojiisan, watches the village celebrations of the annual rice festival from his home high above on the mountainside with a terrible sense of foreboding. He begins feeling the tremors of an earthquake and watches the sea begin to roil and realizes a tsunami is approaching. In an act of unselfish heroism, Ojiisan sets his rice fields on fire to lure the villagers up the mountain, saving hundreds of lives.
Biographical Sketches:
Kamiko Kajikawa is a children’s author of several books for young readers. She
began her interest in writing after a librarian suggested that she read Harriet
the Spy. She loved the book and began to develop her “spying” skills
by carefully observing the details in the world around her, which was excellent
training to be a writer. A former high school librarian, Kimiko lives with
her family and many animal friends in New Hope, Pennsylvania [notes from author’s
website].
Ed Young is the illustrator of over eighty books for children, seventeen of which he has also written. In 1990, his book Lon Po Po was awarded the Caldecott Medal. He has also received two Caldecott Honors—for The Empire and the Kite and Seven Blind Mice—and was twice nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, the highest international recognition given to children’s book authors and illustrators who have made a lasting contribution to children’s literature. Born in China, he now lives in New York with his two daughters and two cats [notes from the author’s website].
Suggested Activities:
1. Have children use cut paper to illustrate a tsunami or another natural disaster.
Show how wrinkling, folding, tearing, layering and cutting can produce different
textures.
2. Play the Tsunami Trivia Game: http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/explore/tsunami.htm
3. Using the Dynamic Earth lesson plan, create tidal wave (tsunami) effects using a plastic box and a mallet. http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/programs/dynamicearth/
4. Make a chart of natural disasters that could occur in your geographic area. List safety precautions that citizens should take. If a disaster should occur, what relief might your community need (monetary, physical, psychological)?
5. Learn about the Japanese Rice Planting Festival called Otaue.
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/history/traditionalevents/a29_fes_otaue.html
http://www.japan-photo.de/e-reisfs.htm
Perhaps students could create a scenario for a Maine Potato Planting Festival.
6. Learn about Japanese history and culture through legends and folktales
by visiting websites, such as
http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/folk/
http://folkloreandmyth.netfirms.com/japan.html
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/japan.html
7. Learn about the importance of rice around the world. Have students
chart information by country, uses, types of rice, or other topics.
http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/jmresources/rice/year.html
8. Try growing rice in a container garden. Instructions can be found at this website: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/732313/how_to_grow_rice_in_your_garden.html?cat=32
Other Books by Kimiko Kajikawa:
Yoshi’s Feast. Illustrated by Yumi Keo. DK Publishing, 2000.
Close to You: How Animals Bond. Henry Holt & Co, 2008.
Sweet Dreams: How Animals Sleep. Henry Holt & Co., 1999.
Books written under pen name Evelyn Clarke Mott:
Dancing Rainbows: a Pueblo Boy’s Story. Cobblehill Books,
1996.
Hot Dog. Random House, 1996.
Cool Cat. Random House, 1996.
Baby Face—a Mirror Book, with Gwynne Isaacs. Random House,
1994.
A Day at the Races with Austin and Kyle Petty. Random House, 1993.
Balloon Ride. Walker Publishing Company, 1991.
Other Books by Ed Young:
Hook. Roaring Brook, 2009.
Wabi Sabi by Mark Reibstein; illustrated by Ed Young. Little, Brown,
2008.
Twenty Heartbeats by Dennis Haseley; llustrated by Ed Young. Roaring
Brook, 2008.
Tiger of the Snows by Robert Burleigh; illustrated by Ed Young.
Athenaeum, 2006.
My Mei Mei. Philomel, 2006.
Seven Blind Mice. Putnam Juvenile, 2002. Caldecott Honor.
Lon Po Po. Philomel, 1989. Caldecott Award.
The Emperor and the Kite by Jane Yolen; illustrated by Ed Young.
Perfection Learning, 1998. Caldecott Honor.
Yeh Shen by Ai-Ling Louie; illustrated by Ed Young. Philomel, 1982.
Sadako by Eleanor Coerr; illustrated by Ed Young. Perfection Learning,
1997.
Other Cut-Paper Collage Illustrators:
Jeanne Baker Lois
Ehlert
Molly Bang Cathryn
Falwell
Eric Carle Steve
Jenkins
Companion Books:
The following books have been translated into English and are available through
Charles E. Tuttle Company, Rutland, Vermont, your local library, or The Institute
for Japanese
Studies, japan@osu.edu, 614-292-3345:
Japanese
Children's Favorite Stories
Japanese
Children's Stories
Kintaro's
Adventures and Other Japanese Children's Stories
Old
Tales of Japan
Urashima
Taro and Other Japanese Children's Stories
Japanese Celebrations: Cherry Blossoms, Lanterns and Stars! by Betty
Reynolds. Tuttle Publishing, 2002.
The Paper Crane by Molly Bang. Perfection Learning, 2002.
TSUNAMI: The True Story of an April Fools' Day Disaster by Gail
Langer Karwoski and John MacDonald. Darby Creek Publishing, 2006.
Elephants of the Tsunami by Jane Laiz. EarthBound Books, 2007.
Owen and Mzee: the True Story of a Remarkable Friendship by Isabella
Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, Paula Kahumbu. Scholastic Press, 2006.
Under the Cherry Blossom Tree: an Old Japanese Tale by Allen Say.
Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 1997.
The Beckoning Cat: Based on a Japanese Folktale by Koko Nishizuka.
Holiday House, 2009.
Websites:
Hamaguchi Goryou website (the person Tsunami was based upon): http://www.town.hirogawa.wakayama.jp/inamuranohi/english/siryo_goryo.html
Kamiko Kajikawa’s website: http://www.author4kids.com
Ed Young’s website: http://edyoungart.com
FEMA Tsunami website for kids: http://www.fema.gov/kids/tsunami.htm
NOAA educational website: http://www.tsunami.noaa.gov/education.html
NOAA tsunami website for kids: http://www.tsunami.noaa.gov/kids.html
Yahoo Tsunami website search results: http://kids.yahoo.com/directory/Science-and-Nature/The-Earth/Geology/Tsunamis
Time for Kids website: http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/tsunami
National Geographic Tsunami website: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/tsunami-profile
Wiki--How to Survive a Tsunami: http://www.wikihow.com/Survive-a-Tsunami-%28for-Kids%29
A to Z Home’s Cool website: http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/explore/tsunami.htm