THE LITTLE YOKOZUNA

Six American siblings on the trail of a kidnapped little sister get a rich dose of Japanese culture and philosophy in this adventuresome fantasy. When four-year-old Harriet tumbles through an invisible “gate,” her older brothers and sisters jump through in pursuit, only to find themselves chasing an oni, a demonic warrior from Japanese folklore, who has captured her. Developing the idea that Japanese gardens, which are meant to represent the world in miniature, contain connections to many times and places, Shorey eventually reunites the scattered searchers for a climactic sumo bout, a rescue, a stay with the Dragon King under the sea, and finally a return home. Shorey pulls in promising elements, from scary demons to hard tests, but concocts no real story to anchor them; the children are dispersed (how? why?), have sketchy, set-piece adventures, then without much effort, find each other and are actually guided to their little sister. It's a brave effort to impart information in both direct and indirect ways—but the author is so intent on instruction that his plot ends up buried beneath the load. (Fiction. 11-13)