Hachiko Waits
AR Level – 4.7
Points – 2
Interest Level –Any Grade
Ok…apparently I am one of the only people who didn’t know about this book prior to reading it. How did I stumble upon this little fun fact? I closed the book last night right before turning out the lights as my daughter came in to my bedroom ready for a “tuck-in”. I told her that she would really like this book since she is pretty much a lover of any dog that will give her the time of day. She took the book, looked at the cover, and said, “Oh, Hachiko…yeah…the dog who waits for his owner at the train station. You know they even have a statue of him.” You can only imagine the look of surprise on my face as she said this to me since I had never heard this story. The conversation really took a turn when I asked her how she knew about Hachiko. She informed me that he was on an episode of Scooby Doo. Geesh. So that means the entire youth of America knows the story of hachiko through the eyes of Scooby and Shaggy…nice.
Well my review continues…
I enjoyed the story. I didn’t however enjoy the writing style of this book. It was pretty dry in my opinion. It read more like a Basal Reader excerpt than a novel, but I honestly don’t think kids who love dogs would mind. In fact, I truly think that any student who has a connection with a pet will be able to identify with this story. Not to mention learn about loyalty, friendship, honor, and Japanese culture all thrown in for good measure. I would definitely use this book in my classroom to incorporate all of the aforementioned themes into a literature based unit. I think it would be VERY cool to be able to find a Japanese school that would be willing to let us interview them via Skype about the statue and what it represents to them in their culture.
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