This is an excellent novel in verse about the 2011 earthquake in Japan.
The earthquake shakes the ground under 11-year-old Maya's feet and it doesn't stop. For more than a year, aftershocks and smaller quakes interrupt and shatter her life -- falling asleep, cowering under the dining room table is no way to live. A stray cat befriends her and stands by her. Radiation leaks from a nuclear reactor in a province to the north. Food becomes scarce, when the ground won't stand still.
She discovers sunflowers are good at taking up radiation from soil and water and thinks perhaps she's found a way to help her neighbors to the north. But disposal of the plants, once grown, without releasing the radiation they've captured is problematic. It will take more than just distributing the seeds to bring her beloved Japan back to health.
There is no real good resolution to this natural disaster. Just children and adults, coping as best as they can in extremely trying circumstances, to find comfort, friendship and solutions to a man-made disaster.
