Chris Sasaki

Home is many things including a “little bit of green, a corner, and a chair.” And home is all that you miss when you move. But the most important thing about home is “the people gathered near.” Warm illustrations use bold shape on open pages in this lyrical presentation of one family’s moving story.

The inspirational and little-known story of a dedicated teacher who coached Hawaiian swimmers all the way to the Olympics, beautifully told in simple rhyme. When the children of workers on a 1930s Maui sugar plantation were chased away from playing in the nearby irrigation ditches, local science teacher Soichi Sakamoto had an idea. He offered to take responsibility for the children — and then he began training them how to swim. Using his science background, Sakamoto devised his own innovative coaching techniques.