Origami cranes take metaphoric flight from West to East in this tale of Yoko the kitten’s earnest efforts to maintain a connection to her grandparents in Japan. Yoko’s Obaasan (grandmother) loves the cranes that inhabit her pond in the summer, and her Ojiisan (grandfather) teaches her how to fold paper to make cranes. When Yoko, now removed to the US, needs to send her Obaasan a birthday gift in winter, she sends three origami cranes and a promise that she, too, will soon “come back to Japan, just like the cranes.” Wells’s (Bunny Party, above, etc.) illustrations are utterly gorgeous, incorporating gold leaf and decorated Japanese papers into her trademark paintings of cuddly animals. The scenes in Japan show a distinct Japanese influence, with gloriously foamy, sculptural waves rising out of the ocean. One inspired double-page spread depicts the mail plane winging its way from a pastel California (iconographically identified by skyscrapers, orange groves, palm trees, and a parking lot) to a deliciously snowy Japan, shown simply as a snowy mountain and curling wave towering over a small wooden house on its own island. Given the stunning illustrations, it’s a shame that the story doesn’t hold its own. Well-meaning and earnest, it lacks entirely the humor and warmth of its predecessor, and there is little beauty of language to compensate for the humdrum narrative. Perhaps this can be partly explained by an attempt to emulate the austere Japanese text forms as well as illustration, but even if this is the case, the text as a whole falls depressingly flat. Still, Yoko’s fans will be pleased to see a new story, and may be so dazzled by the illustrations that they will not notice the weaknesses. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7868-0737-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A nice but not requisite purchase.
A retelling of the classic fairy tale in board-book format and with a Mexican setting.
Though simplified for a younger audience, the text still relates the well-known tale: mean-spirited stepmother, spoiled stepsisters, overworked Cinderella, fairy godmother, glass slipper, charming prince, and, of course, happily-ever-after. What gives this book its flavor is the artwork. Within its Mexican setting, the characters are olive-skinned and dark-haired. Cultural references abound, as when a messenger comes carrying a banner announcing a “FIESTA” in beautiful papel picado. Cinderella is the picture of beauty, with her hair up in ribbons and flowers and her typically Mexican many-layered white dress. The companion volume, Snow White, set in Japan and illustrated by Misa Saburi, follows the same format. The simplified text tells the story of the beautiful princess sent to the forest by her wicked stepmother to be “done away with,” the dwarves that take her in, and, eventually, the happily-ever-after ending. Here too, what gives the book its flavor is the artwork. The characters wear traditional clothing, and the dwarves’ house has the requisite shoji screens, tatami mats and cherry blossoms in the garden. The puzzling question is, why the board-book presentation? Though the text is simplified, it’s still beyond the board-book audience, and the illustrations deserve full-size books.
A nice but not requisite purchase. (Board book/fairy tale. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7915-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Vital messages of self-love for darker-skinned children.
On hot summer nights, Amani’s parents permit her to go outside and play in the apartment courtyard, where the breeze is cool and her friends are waiting.
The children jump rope to the sounds of music as it floats through a neighbor’s window, gaze at stars in the night sky, and play hide-and-seek in the moonlight. It is in the moonlight that Amani and her friends are themselves found by the moon, and it illumines the many shades of their skin, which vary from light tan to deep brown. In a world where darkness often evokes ideas of evil or fear, this book is a celebration of things that are dark and beautiful—like a child’s dark skin and the night in which she plays. The lines “Show everyone else how to embrace the night like you. Teach them how to be a night-owning girl like you” are as much an appeal for her to love and appreciate her dark skin as they are the exhortation for Amani to enjoy the night. There is a sense of security that flows throughout this book. The courtyard is safe and homelike. The moon, like an additional parent, seems to be watching the children from the sky. The charming full-bleed illustrations, done in washes of mostly deep blues and greens, make this a wonderful bedtime story.
Vital messages of self-love for darker-skinned children. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: July 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-55271-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
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