Ben can't wait to leave Japan. The 11-year-old has been visiting his great uncle in his father's home city of Shogahama with his mother and 5-year-old brother, Harry. It's a trip he didn't want to make, since it was originally the idea of his father, a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, who tragically died in a car crash four months earlier. The eighth entry in Tarshis' wildly popular I Survived series begins with an earthquake and hurls Ben through one of the worst natural disasters in recent history. Clear, direct writing doesn't gloss over Ben's terror as he finds himself separated from his family and surrounded by water, drawing upon his memories of his dad to give him the strength he needs to survive. A short overview of the disaster and a list of further resources round out another solid entry in the series.