The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota's Garden

by Heather Smith, Rachel Wada (Illustrator)

Overview

★ “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 Garden is 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459821033
Publisher:	Orca Book Publishers
Publication date:	09/17/2019
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	371,026
Product dimensions:	7.75(w) x 10.75(h) x 0.38(d)
Lexile:	490L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Originally from Newfoundland, Heather Smith now lives in Waterloo, Ontario, with her family. Her Newfoundland roots inspire much of her writing. Her middle-grade novel Ebb and Flow was short-listed for the Governor General's Literary Award, and her YA novel The Agony of Bun O'Keefe won the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award and was short-listed for the Amy Mathers Teen Book Award and the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People.

Rachel Wada's work is defined by heavy texture, bold color, and intricate details that capture the nuances of people, places, and ideas, real and surreal. Rachel's identity as Japanese-Cantonese, an immigrant, and a woman informs her artistic practice. She loves to put her own spin on traditional techniques, motifs, and symbolism inspired by her cultural background. This duality of old and new is also apparent in her use of both traditional and digital mediums, and she draws inspiration from a variety of sources, from Japanese woodblock prints, Chinese pottery, and ceramics, food packaging design to traditional folk art. She has a special love for the ocean, tea, and noodles of all kinds. Rachel lives in Vancouver.

Editorial Reviews

★ 08/19/2019

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.)

Publishers Weekly

★ “A moving tale...offers comfort and peace to those left behind.

starred review Booklist

★ “An affecting, well-rendered resource for talking about catastrophes and grief both personal and communal.

starred review Publisher Weekly

Text and illustration come together to make this a memorable story of love, loss, and despair tinged with the hope that comes when healing can finally begin...This book has a wide range of appeal and will fit into many curriculum areas. Highly Recommended.

School Library Connection

A moving concept, and the book might open discussion about ways to deal with death and loss.

The Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books

This tender look at both personal and community loss shows how we begin to take the first small, difficult steps toward healing.

The Horn Book

Beautifully lyrical…This story is sure to be a favourite...Highly recommended for all children’s libraries.

Resource Links

Touching tale of loss and resilience.

Hakai Magazine

[An] affecting story...Will provide much material for thought and discussion. The artwork will also give inspiration to budding illustrators of all ages.

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

Wondrous, full of grace, and so poignant.

Sal's Fiction Addiction

This book is an essential purchase for elementary school libraries and home libraries. Children need to learn empathy, coping skills and the simplicity of communicating to help during the healing process.

Must Read Literature: K thru YA

"Tackles tragedy with compassion and shows that beauty and community can be found in even the darkest times...The illustrations, inspired by traditional Japanese art, are my favorite from any picture book in 2019 and perfectly capture the story's themes of hope and loss. While young readers may have many questions about death, this book answers one of the biggest ones—how do we move forward? The answer, according to Mr. Hirota, is together."

Canadian Children's Book News

★ 09/01/2019

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

School Library Journal

★ 2019-05-22
When tragedy strikes a Japanese fishing community, a young boy navigates grief with the help of a neighbor.

Every day, Makio and his elderly neighbor, Mr. Hirota, play a game spotting family members working on the shore cleaning the catch of the day. Suddenly an earthquake strikes, and the two watch in horror as their loved ones are caught in the ensuing tsunami. "Everyone lost someone the day the big wave came. / Silence hung over the village like a dark, heavy cloud." Makio has not spoken since but curiously watches as Mr. Hirota builds a telephone booth in his garden to talk to his lost daughter, Fumika. Soon other members of the community use the booth to talk to their lost ones: "Hello, cousin. Today I fixed the boat. I will fish again soon." Intrigued, Makio sneaks into the booth, finding a disconnected phone and the courage to finally say aloud, "I miss you, Dad." Basing her story on the tsunami that struck Otsuchi, Japan, in 2011, Smith uses a reverent, poetic tone that is heightened by Wada's mixed media illustrations. Wada uses a hybrid of Japanese art styles to mirror the grieving process, with the tragedy expressed in a dark gray palette, gradually underlined by pops of color and eventually giving way to a warmly colored pastel spread.

A beautifully rendered tale of loss, love, grief, and gentle healing. (author's note) (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews

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