The Day the Stones Walked - T. A. Barron

Illustrated by William Low
Philomel (Penguin), 2007
$16.99
32 pgs.
For: ages 7 - 10
Rating: 4
Endpapers: navy blue

Lots of times a book - an article - a paragraph - even a simple reference - sparks an interest that takes us researching farther. This book awakened such an interest in me.

Easter Island. "The world's most remote inhabited island. It lies over 2200 miles west of South America, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean." 30-foot tall hand carved "moai" guard the island's shores. Who carved them? And why?

This story takes us to Easter Island on a long ago day when a tsunami hits. Pico is sent by his mother, who senses danger by looking at the clouds, to warn his father, who is carving a moai. The immense wave is powerful and disatrous. The story is really more about the tsunami than the carvings, which is a bit disappointing - although it is a moai that saves Pico when he is pulled underneath the roaring water. More information to come after some research!

The illustrations fully cover the page, complimenting the story well. The 2-page author's note at the end is informative and has now set me on a quest to know more about Easter Island. Fascinating.

Tsunami - Kimiko Kajikawa

Illustrated by Ed Young
Philomel Books, 2009
(Ellsworth Library 8/3/09)
$16.99
32 pgs.
For: ages 6-10
rating: 3.5
Endpapers: orange

A "long ago in Japan" folktale, white font on black on bottom eighth of page, illustrations collaged on rest of double-page spreads.

Ojiisan - grandfather - lived high on a mountain overlooking the sea. One day, after what seemed like a minor earthquake, the sea receeded, making more and more and more beach. Ojiisan knew what would happen when the sea came back - and it would devour all 400 villagers. So he set fire to every bit of his valuable rice fields to beckon everyone up the mountan. He saved them all.

Good verbal description of a tsunami - the collages (purposely?) leave a great deal to the imagination.