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 | My Japan
Author: Watanabe, Etsuko
Illustrator: Watanabe, Etsuko
Country of Origin: France 
Ages: 5 - 9
Themes: Family, Non-Fiction, Diversity, Japan, Holidays
Hardcover $14.95 |
"Young readers will finish this book and want to know more � and maybe even start asking for their first passport." MultiCultural Review
"Yumi, a seven-year-old Japanese girl, shows readers her home (bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom), her school, the public bath, a Tokyo subway station, and a street of shops in the city. In the next section, she introduces traditions related to the New Year, Girls� Day, Children�s Day (or Boy�s Day), Tanabata (a traditional star festival), Undokai (Sports Day), and Shichi-Go-San (a festival for �three- and seven-year-old girls, and three- and five-year-old boys�). Finally, the book introduces Japanese forms of writing. Expanding the text, the paintings offer charming yet informative glimpses of a child�s world in contemporary, or near-contemporary, Japan. A typical spread includes a full-page painting facing a white page with a few lines of text and several small, captioned pictures. First published in France but created by a writer/illustrator who grew up in Japan, this picture book presents an appealing look at family and school life in her native country." Booklist Online
"Watanabe does an excellent job of showing how similar we are and yet allowing readers to really see the differences in the societies we live in. The illustrations are done in a very welcoming style that invites readers to look closely at the details. This is a very nice introduction to Japan and its modern culture through the eyes of a child.
Recommended for children studying Japan or Japanese as well as children who are interested in other cultures. With its friendly, inviting style, this book is a welcome addition to any library." Kids Lit
"...The information presented is so rich in simple details that it reads like a narrative rather than the list it is. The layout is very clean; the thumbnail art floats without crowding against the white backgrounds, while the contrasting full-page bleeds have a tidy geometric balance that makes them lush but never cluttered. This would make an engaging nonfiction accompaniment to a Japanese-set picture book, but it will also entice newly independent readers to pore over it on their own." -The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
HARDCOVER ISBN: 978-1-933605-99-9
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