Kenta and The Big Wave by Ruth Ohi

Kenta and the Big Wave is the story of a boy in Japan that is playing soccer when he hears the alarm that he needs to run for higher ground.  He loses his ball in the commotion.  When he gets to the school he finds his mom and dad.  Soon after though he discovers that his home is gone.  Meanwhile, his ball makes it's way across the ocean where another boy finds the ball and sends it back to Kenta.

First off, I quite like Ruth Ohi.  I had the chance to meet her this past winter.  I thought she was quite sweet as she sat signing autographs and personalizing them all with special little drawings.

However, I would have preferred to see this book with a bit more detail.  The story was quite short.  I think the story could have been a bit more developed and it would have made a fantastic nominee for the Silver Birch Express category in the Forest of Reading.

I think that would be one of my biggest complaints about the Blue Spruce/Forest of Reading.  There are ten books in each category that we librarians work quite hard at promoting to the students.  But I feel those ten books should be something that I could recommend to everyone in the targeted age group.  With Kenta and the Big Wave I really hesitated to read this to my Kindergarten to Grade 3 classes.  It felt like too deep of a topic to tackle in a short library period.  In the end, I did read it but only because there was another title that I felt I didn't want to tackle with the kids.  I know the kids will call me out for skipping one and I would never get away with skipping two.  This book just felt too serious for that age group but yet too simple for older grades.