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.)