Normally when I write about a double take, it’s a cover image that’s been used twice (or three times, or four…). This one is a little different. These two titles were listed one right after the other on the vendor website I was browsing, and at first I thought that perhaps I had opened up the same title twice when I clicked to see more details. Nope. Then I thought that maybe they were the same book, just the second one was the renamed title and the first would be listed as cancelled by the publisher. Nope again.

Up From the Sea by Leza Lowitz is a YA novel from Crown Books for Young Readers. Its Worldcat synopsis reads “A novel in verse about the March 2011 tsunami that sent Japan into chaos, told from the point-of-view of Kai, a biracial teenaged boy.”

The Turn of the Tide by Rosanne Parry is a middle grade novel from Random House Books for Young Readers. Its Worldcat synopsis reads “After a devastating tsunami in Japan, cousins Jet and Kai spend the summer together in Astoria, Oregon, training for the Young’s Bay Treasure Island Race and become close friends in the process.”

In other words, both of these books are about a Japanese tsunami, both feature a protagonist named Kai, and both are being published by Penguin Random House (CBYR and RHBYR are both imprints). What’s more, they’re both being published on January 12, which is why they were listed one right after the other on my vendor website.

From the Worldcat synopses alone, it’s possible that these two books could actually be the same book (aside from the target audience difference). Think of the second book’s synopsis as an elaboration of the first book’s. But as far as I can tell, they’re not related to each other at all, just weirdly similar.