Rick Kotani's 400 Million Dollar Summer

By Waka T. Brown

A young baseball fan faces a choice between ruthless ambition and family loyalty in Oregon.

3.9/5 Goodreads · 86 ratings

272 pages

$19.99Save 5%

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Bookroo's summary

Twelve-year-old Rick's summer takes an unexpected turn when he's sent to Oregon to help his mysterious grandfather. As he bonds over a Japanese folktale, Rick joins a fiercely competitive baseball league. Caught between winning at any cost and staying true to himself, Rick must choose his path. Will he follow his teammates into a ruthless pursuit of victory, or will he find his way back to family and integrity? Discover the parallels between his journey and the tale of Urashima Taro in this captivating story of choices and self-discovery.

From the publisher

Oregon Book Award-winning author Waka T. Brown hits a home run in this middle grade novel about a baseball-obsessed twelve-year-old who moves to Oregon to help his grandfather–an elusive old man with a shrouded past–but ends up learning unexpected truths about his family and how they mysteriously parallel the Japanese folktale of Urashima Taro. Rick Kotani is looking forward to spending the entire summer playing baseball. Sure, his team never wins, but he’s been practicing a special pitch he knows is going to land him a 400-million-dollar major-league contract . . . someday. That all changes when his mother throws a curveball of her own: Instead of playing ball in California, Rick will be heading to Oregon to help keep an eye on Grandpa Hiroshi while they move him to a retirement home. Trading no-hitters to be a babysitter? Rick is beyond bummed.But once there, Rick discovers Grandpa is actually pretty cool, and the two bond over a Japanese folktale about a fisherman, Urashima Taro, who trades his life on earth for the riches of an underwater kingdom. And like the fisherman, Rick soon forgets about his team back home when he joins a supercompetitive local league that only cares about being the best–at any cost.As the team racks up the wins and Grandpa makes his final move, Rick must decide which ending he wants for his story: Will he fall in line with his ruthless teammates and their victory-obsessed coach in his own “underwater kingdom,” or will family, true friendship, and integrity lead him back to shore?

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