Rick Kotani's 400 million dollar summer

A baseball-obsessed Japanese American 12-year-old relocates to help his grand- father and simultaneously unearths family history that mysteriously parallels a Japanese fairy tale in this stalwart novel by Brown (While I Was Away). Rick Kotani dreams of signing a $400 million contract with the MLB. His planned summer of nothing but baseball practice is derailed, however, when his mother informs him that they will be leaving Los Angeles for a sleepy Oregon town to assist Rick's grandfather's move into a retirement home. But Rick finds Grandpa to be great company, and the two bond over a folktale about Urashima Taro¯ , a Japanese fisherman who trades his humble life on land to live in luxury under the sea. As Grandpa tells the story, family secrets come to light, and Rick realizes the events parallel real-life happenings in both Grandpa's and Rick's lives. Rick also befriends kids on a local baseball team, whose competitive coach only cares about winning. Brown uses the mystical foundation of a dreamlike folktale as the backdrop upon which unpleasant realities surrounding Rick's grandfather's cognitive decline and generational trauma unfurl. Simple prose organically incorporates Japanese-language interjections and baseball lingo. Ages 8--12. (Feb.)

Gr 5 Up--Rick Kotani has his summer all planned out: baseball, video games, and hanging out with friends. All of that changes with one phone call. Now Rick and his mom are headed to his grandpa's house in Oregon for the summer. With no friends and no baseball, Rick's hopes of having a great summer are quickly fading. But a chance encounter with Toni, a girl who knows her game, brings him back into the baseball world and a chance to make new friends. As the summer progresses, Rick realizes what real friends look like, and that baseball is not the end-all-be-all. The title of this book is slightly inaccurate. From the beginning, it sets it up to be all about baseball, but the sport takes a backseat at times to the other story lines. The author has created an arc that shows the two generations, Rick and his grandfather, building a relationship that had not existed previously. There is a cultural gap between the two, but the grandpa introduces a Japanese children's tale that bridges the distance. Readers may struggle with the pacing of this story. At times, the plot loses momentum. Secondary characters are not fully fleshed out, and some side stories have no resolutions. VERDICT A general purchase, likely for larger collections.--Heather Lassley

What could be worth more than $400 million dollars? Twelve-year-old Rick Kotani is a baseball superfan who's shocked when his favorite baseball player, David Martinez, turns down a huge contract. Japanese American Rick dreams of being a millionaire pro ball player someday, and he's excited for an epic summer of baseball with his teammates. Unfortunately, his plans are derailed when his mom (whom some readers will recognize as the protagonist of 2022'sDream, Annie, Dream) whisks him away from Los Angeles to the Oregon seaside to check on his grandfather Hiroshi, whom he hasn't seen in eight years. But things don't turn out as badly as he expected when the two discover they have a mutual affinity. Grandpa shares with Rick a compelling Japanese folk tale about a fisherman named Urashima Taro, a turtle, and the untold treasures of an underwater kingdom. Rick even gets a chance to play ball with a local team and makes new friends. But just as he's getting swept up in the small-town team's toxic culture of winning at any cost, he starts to notice uncanny similarities between the tale of Urashima Taro and his own family's story. Could there be more to life than fame and fortune? Brown beautifully weaves together multiple storylines as the characters learn to find meaning, value, and purpose even when their dreams fail to unfold in the ways they hoped. Ambiguous moments leave room for deeper contemplation and discussion. A thought-provoking, multilayered read that will leave a lasting impression.(Fiction. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.