Chidori: A Story of One Thousand Birds

Gr 1-3–This story centers Hana, a young girl who lives in Japan, and how she deals with the effects of an earthquake followed by a tsunami that hits her village. The earthquake shakes her classroom, but the tsunami sweeps through the market where her mother works and destroys fishing boats, cars, trucks, and homes. Hana’s mother does not return. The girl’s grief is profound, and the way she deals with it is by painting one thousand birds. These are the plovers that her mother liked to paint, and they symbolize courage and determination. The story focuses on a tragedy for Hana, but also shows readers how sumi-e, the style of painting she learned from her grandmother, can have a soothing, therapeutic effect. Hana paints the birds in spots around the village and on a special place: the rock where she used to meet her mother after school. While this story is fiction, it is based on an actual event in 2011. This story of loss is told in a straightforward way and is enhanced by collage art that shows the impact of the tsunami, but also suggests the healing power of art. One question is unresolved: what will be the long-term impact of the painting of the birds on Hana, her family, and others in the village? Readers may come away, despite the book’s lovely art, with the feeling that an ending is missing.