The phone booth in Mr. Hirota's garden

★ "Smith spins a quietly moving narrative...Wada's large-scale woodblock style illustrations are a perfect complement to the story's restrained text...The graceful way in which this book handles a sensitive and serious subject makes it a first purchase."--School Library Journal

When the tsunami destroyed Makio's village, Makio lost his father . . . and his voice. The entire village is silenced by grief, and the young child's anger at the ocean grows. Then one day his neighbor, Mr. Hirota, begins a mysterious project--building a phone booth in his garden. At first Makio is puzzled; the phone isn't connected to anything. It just sits there, unable to ring. But as more and more villagers are drawn to the phone booth, its purpose becomes clear to Makio: the disconnected phone is connecting people to their lost loved ones. Makio calls to the sea to return what it has taken from him and ultimately finds his voice and solace in a phone that carries words on the wind.

The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota's Gardenis inspired by the true story of the wind phone in Otsuchi, Japan, which was created by artist Itaru Sasaki. He built the phone booth so he could speak to his cousin who had passed, saying, "My thoughts couldn't be relayed over a regular phone line, I wanted them to be carried on the wind." The Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011 destroyed the town of Otsuchi, claiming 10 percent of the population. Residents of Otsuchi and pilgrims from other affected communities have been traveling to the wind phone since the tsunami.

Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

K-Gr 3--Grief and healing are explored in this gentle picture book inspired by real events. In 2011, a giant tsunami hit the coast of northeastern Japan, destroying entire villages and taking the lives of thousands. In spare prose, Smith spins a quietly moving narrative that highlights the remarkable way one village found healing in the aftermath of the disaster. As young Makio mourns the death of his fisherman father, he notices his neighbor, Mr. Hirota, building something mysterious: a phone booth with a disconnected telephone. Even stranger, Mr. Hirota uses the "phone connected to nowhere" to speak to his daughter who died in the tsunami. Soon, other villagers flock to the phone booth to "call" their lost loved ones. Although Makio is still processing the anger and trauma that goes hand-in-hand with grief, he decides to try the phone himself and finds a sense of peace at last. Wada's large-scale woodblock style illustrations, with their evocative use of color to convey emotion, are a perfect complement to the story's restrained text. Best shared with an adult who can provide context for the tragedy, young readers will find much to discuss here, ranging from how tsunamis work to the true story of the phone booth and the various ways people cope with loss. VERDICT The graceful way in which this book handles a sensitive and serious subject makes it a first purchase for most picture book collections.--Allison Tran, Mission Viejo Library, CA

Publisher's Weekly Review

In a story based on a garden telephone booth and the 2011 tsunami that hit Japan, Smith (The Agony of Bun O'Keefe) imagines a Japanese boy named Makio and his neighbor, Mr. Hirota. Each morning, the two vie to spot Makio's fisherman father as he unloads the day's catch, and Mr. Hirota's daughter, who helps to clean the fish ("It was one of their favorite games"). But Makio's father and Mr. Hirota's daughter are both lost in a giant wave--Wada illustrates with strongly composed watercolor spreads whose masses of black shadow convey foreboding and sorrow--and Makio, grief-stricken, stops speaking. Mr. Hirota builds a white phone booth in his garden, the telephone "connected to nowhere." Makio watches him enter it to talk to his dead daughter, and other villagers begin visiting it, too. After screaming at the ocean, which offers only its customary response, Makio decides to try the phone booth himself. "Guess what? I did really well on my math test. ...I miss you, Dad." Speaking directly to his departed family about ordinary events gives Makio his voice back and helps him traverse grief. An affecting, well-rendered resource for talking about catastrophes and grief both personal and communal. Ages 6--8. (Sept.)

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Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

Publisher's Weekly Review