J A PA N E S E B O A R D O N B O O K S F O R Y O U N G P E O P L E

Japanese
Children's Books
2021

Cover illustration

Shigeru TAMURA
Born in Tokyo in 1949, Shigeru Tamura attended the Kumasawa

Design School. He is a picture book, film and digital content art-

ist with a unique poetic sense and humour. His picture books include Uchu suketo (Space Skate; Libroport), Suna no oshiro (SandCastle; Kaiseisha), Katatsumuri takushii (The Snail Taxi; Fukuinkan
Shoten), and Ari to suika (The Ants and the Watermelon; Poplar),as well as the illustration collection Metaphysical Nights, winnerof the Shogakukan Illustration Prize. He directed the films Ursa
Minor Blue, winner of the Mainichi Film Awards Noburo Ofuji

Prize, and Glassy Ocean, winner of the Japan Media Arts Festival
Animation Grand Prize. His picture book Yoru no oto (Night

Sounds; Kaiseisha) was named to the 2020 IBBY Honour List.

Japanese Children's Books

2021

Contents● Book Selection Team.................................................................................................2● About JBBY and this Catalog................................................................................. 3● Recent Japanese Children's Books Recommended by JBBY....................... 4● The Hans Christian Andersen Award
Five winners and 14 nominees from Japan .........................................................22● Japanese Books Selected for the IBBY Honour List ....................................24● Recent Translations into Japanese Recommended by JBBY.....................26

JBBY Book Selection and Review TeamThe JBBY Book Selection and Review Team collaboratively chose the titles listed in thispublication. The name in parentheses after each book description is the last name of theteam member who wrote the description.
Yasuko DOI

Director and senior researcher at the International
Institute for Children’s Literature (IICLO). Besides researching reading activities and the history of Japanesechildren’s literature, she plans projects such as training
courses for teachers and librarians, as well as lecturesand symposiums for children’s book authors fromJapan and overseas. Coeditor of I Could Read by Myself!;
Book Guide of 200 Books for Young Children (Hyoronsha)
among others. Jury for the 2018 and 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Awards. JBBY managing director.

Akira NOGAMI

At Shogakukan, served as editor of First Grader monthly
magazine, head of children’s books, company director,
and finally president and CEO of Shogakukan Creative.
Taught children’s literature and culture at Shirayuri
University and Tokyo Seitoku University. His writings inJapanese include To the Modern Children’s Literature ofJapan (Parorusha), Children’s Literature Crossing Borders(Nagasaki Shuppan), and Contemporary History ofChildren’s Culture (Otsuki Shoten). Coeditor of When I
Was a Child, There Was a War (Rironsha) among others.
Managing director of Japan PEN Club. JBBY vice president.

Yukiko HIROMATSU
Picture book author, critic, and curator. Her writings inJapanese include the series Picture Books of Old Tales
for Now Vols. 1-11 (Iwasaki Shoten). Her translations
into Japanese include Run, Toto! by Eun-young Cho(Bunka Shuppankyoku), winner of the Japan PictureBook Awards Translation Award, and A World of YourOwn by Laura Carlin (BL Shuppan). She has sat on thejury of the Bologna llustrators Exhibition, the Biennial of
Illustrations Bratislava, and the Nami Concours. Former
chief curator of Chihiro Art Museum, Tokyo. JBBY vicepresident.

Mikako SAKAGUCHI
Member of the Japanese Society of Science Books forChildren. With the motto “science books and experiences play catch,” she teaches some 270 sessions annually from play-with-science times, to elementary/middle
school and university classes, to workshops targeted tolibrary and children’s center staff and read-aloud volunteers. She has authored the books Science Mysteries(Froebel-kan) and The Price of Life and Welfare (Otsuki
Shoten), translated Michael Faraday and Electricity by
Brian Bowers (Tamagawa University Press), and contributed to the volume Let’s Start Science Reading (Iwanami
Shoten) among others. JBBY member.

Yumiko SAKUMA

Translator, editor, reviewer of children’s books, representative of the Japan-Africa Children’s Books Project(JACBOP), and former professor at Aoyama Gakuin
Women’s College. Her writings in Japanese include The
Cooking Stoves of Enzaro Village (Fukuinkan Shoten).
Her more than 250 translations of books from English
to Japanese range from Charlotte’s Web by E.B. Whiteand the picture books of Maurice Sendak to Refugee by
Alan Gratz. Her translation of Last Summer with Maizon
by Jacqueline Woodson made the IBBY Honour List.
JBBY president.

For each selected title in this catalog, we provide the following:
Title in English(Title in Japanese/Title in Romanized Japanese)

Author/Illustrator | Publisher | Publication Year | Number ofPages | Trim Size | ISBN | Target Age | Keywords

Basic Book Description (Last Name of Reviewer)About JBBY and This Catalog
The Japanese Board on Books for Young People (JBBY) was founded in 1974
as the Japanese Section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY).
JBBY is dedicated to enhancing international understanding, and to providing information on children’s books to people around the world. We promote
IBBY’s mission in a broad range of ways. Our international network allows us
to take advantage of the prolific information generated by IBBY and to encourage mutual understanding. Our mission is to create a peaceful future forchildren worldwide through books.
JBBY hosts international book exhibitions in Japan that provide information
about global titles to Japanese readers. In addition, we provide information
on Japanese children’s books to people around the world. We nominate titles
for international recognition, as a means to deepen global understanding
towards Japan.
In this catalog, we provide information about recent Japanese books
recommended by a JBBY book selection and review team in several
categories: picture books, chapter books and novels, and nonfiction.
In addition, we introduce Japanese winners of and nominees for theHans Christian Andersen Award; books selected for the IBBY Honour
List from Japan; and recent translations into Japanese recommended by
JBBY.
We list the recent Japanese books by category and in order of target age,
including cover images and synopses along with bibliographic information.
We hope you will enjoy reading about these books. For further information,please contact us: info@jbby.org
Yumiko SAKUMA, JBBY President

Cover illustration Ⓒ Shigeru Tamura

Recent
Picture
Books

1

2

Rain Kappa

Noodles Are Ready!

One rainy day, someone knocks on the door of
Nao’s house. She opens it to find a strange green
creature standing there. It’s a Japanese yokai
known as a kappa. When children in Nao’s town
have to stay home alone, a kappa comes to play.
Little Nao is afraid at first, but soon she is enjoying a picnic in the rain with lunch prepared by the
kappa. The kappa takes her to a secret place she
could never have found on her own. Readers share
Nao’s excitement as the two play under a hugetree. In this maiden work, each blade of grass andeven the tiniest insects are carefully rendered,stimulating the imagination. The darker toned
pages conceal endless discoveries, enticing thereader deeper into this delightful picture book.
(Hiromatsu)

Udon noodles, a Japanese soul food made from
wheat flour, are loved by children and adults alike.
The entire process of turning flour into delicious
noodles is presented through appealing illustrations that evoke the texture of the dough at various stages and every action, from stirring salted
water into powdery flour and kneading the doughto patting it into a ball and finally treading on it.
The main character has fun making handprints inthe dough, sculpting it like clay, and dancing on it.
The realistic drawings rendered with crayons elicit
a spontaneous desire to try making, and of course
eating, udon. This is a celebration of the joy ofeating one’s own cooking, and the author includes
not only an udon recipe using wheat flour, butalso one using rice flour. (Hiromatsu)

あめかっぱ（Ame kappa）| Text/Ill. Murakami, Saori |Kaiseisha | 2020 | 32pp | 26x22cm | ISBN 9784033327600| Ages: 3+ | Yokai, Home alone, Rain, Nature

3

4

5

Melon Vine Coils Round and RoundThe Children are Waiting

Hello! My Picture

Natural enemies, Onomatopoeia

Expectation

Colors, Freedom

うりのつるくるくる（Uri no tsuru kurukuru）| Text/Ill.
Tashima, Seizo | Mitsumura Educational | 2020 | 24pp
| 20x20cm | ISBN 9784895722414 | Ages 3+ | Plants,

A vine sprouts from a melon seed that an old man
spits on the ground. Bugs flock to the vine andeat the leaves. The plant has to deal with the bugs
itself while the old man naps. A bird comes to themelon’s rescue, but then a snake goes after the
bird’s eggs. Whether plants, bugs, birds, reptiles or humans, all living creatures in the world
depend on one another in a delicate balance of
eating and being eaten, nurturing and killing. The
text unfolds in a rhythmical singsong fashion withlittle explanation, but through the illustrations
even a very young child can grasp such concepts
as the circle of life and the value of all living
things. (Hiromatsu)

4

うどんできた！（Udon dekita!）| Text/Ill. Kato, Yasumi| Fukuinkan Shoten | 2020 | 24pp | 23x21cm | ISBN
9784834085518 | Ages: 3+ | Noodles, Cooking, Family

こどもたちはまっている（Kodomo tachi wa matte iru）|
Text/Ill. Arai, Ryoji | Aki Shobo | 2020 | 32pp | 31x22cm |ISBN 9784750515984 | Ages: 3+ | Horizon, Scenery, Time,The book opens with a dazzling view of the horizon in yellow tones. With each page turned, a newlandscape spreads before the readers’ eyes, andthe phrase “The children are waiting” is repeated.
Small children are hidden within warmly depictedscenes from daily life. The children are waiting formany different things: a boat, a donkey, the rain tostop, summer, etc. Each time the page turns, thechildren’s wishes are answered. The author, who
won the 2005 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award,
continues to share positive messages for the present and the future during these anxious times.
The layout, as well as the pleasant rhythm andsingsong quality, fills the reader with hope that
this world is indeed enough to fulfill our expectations. (Hiromatsu)

こんにちは！ わたしのえ（Konnichiwa! Watashi no e）| Text/Ill. Hata, Koshiro | Holp Shuppan | 2020 | 32pp |25x22cm | ISBN 9784593100835 | Ages: 3+ | Painting,

A bold brush stroke sweeps across the front cover,inviting the reader inside. Even the colors and lines
on the sleeve protector and inside flap exude acreativity that stimulates the reader’s senses. Witha “splat”, a girl applies a brush thick with paint to asnow-white page. From that point, a line emerges,
twisting and dancing. Colors are born and merge.
Midway through, the girl begins using her hands
and feet as brushes, following the impulses of her
body and mind to draw with her entire being. The
colorful illustrations and use of onomatopoeia
realistically convey the joy that comes from creating just for the sake of it instead of aiming for theperfect picture. The author specializes in dynamic
workshops with children, and here he is at his very
best. The book is bound to liberate and inspire thereader to create their own picture. (Hiromatsu)

絵本
6

7

8

Drum

Chinchiraka and the Giant

Gotcha!

When someone finds a drum and plays ton, ton,
to-to-ton, someone else asks, “May I join you?” As
the two play ton ton, poko poko together, a thirdand fourth ask to join. As they play with delight,
an alligator grouches, “You’re too loud! Gaah!” andthey all flee. But then the alligator sidles up to thedrum, taps it, and finds out playing is fun! Whenthe four hear the alligator playing, they gradually
come back. Everyone’s rhythms join together: ton
poko peta bon gaah gon! The rhythms and fun of
taiko drumming spill forth. (Sakuma)

A folktale from Georgia in the Caucasus unfolds inthis dynamically illustrated picture book. Chinchiraka, the youngest of three brothers known for
his wisdom, is commanded by a moody king tosnatch a golden vase from a giant who lives insidea magic mountain. When Chinchiraka succeeds,
he is told to go take a golden panduri instrument that speaks human language. After that, hemust go and catch the giant himself. Chinchiraka
somehow tricks the giant into a box and catches
him, but when the giant comes out of the box, hegobbles up the king and his servants! Scary parts
are balanced by a happy ending, in which Chinchiraka becomes the king. (Sakuma)

A boy goes alone to the river and spots a large
fish in the shallows. When the boy moves closer,
he slips and falls into the water, but he tries hardto catch the fish, struggling with his bare hands.
The feel of the wriggling fish is expressed throughonomatopoeia such as nururu (slimy) and guriguri(googly). Textures of water, air and emotions seemto well up from the rough brush strokes, blurs,
and white space in the illustrations. The face-off
between boy and fish—by turns rough, wild, humorous, and sad—evokes the sympathy of living
things. The eighty-year-old author-illustrator’s
formative experiences in nature come forth vividly, awakening the reader’s sense of aliveness. An
ambitious new work released after Seizo Tashima
made the shortlist for the 2020 Hans ChristianAndersen Award for Illustration. (Hiromatsu)

たいこ（Taiko）| Text/Ill. Hikatsu, Tomomi | Fukuinkan
Shoten | 2019 | 24pp | 22x21cm | ISBN 9784834085051 |Ages: 3+ | Drum, Rhythm, Companionship, Fun

9

チンチラカと大男（Chinchiraka to o-otoko）| Text: Katayama, Fue | Ill. Suzuki, Koji | BL Shuppan | 2019 | 32pp |29x22cm | ISBN 9784776409274 | Ages: 3+ | Wisdom,
Giant, King, Georgia

10

Crane and Tortoise

つるかめつるかめ（Tsurukame tsurukame）| Text:
Nakawaki, Hatsue | Ill. Azumimushi | Asunaro Shobo |2020 | 32pp | 20x19cm | ISBN 9784751529683 | Ages: 3+| Charms, Encouragement

For lightning protection, kuwabara kuwabara.
For calming an earthquake, majaraku majaraku.
This book introduces seven charms that people
have chanted in times of worry or fear. The author
and illustrator rushed publication for the sake ofchildren and adults suffering from anxiety due
to Covid. From charms chanted for generations
in regions with harsh nature, to a phrase thatgrown-ups used to comfort the author when she
was a child—daijobu, daijobu—the book offers
scenes of chanting with brief language and pleasing tempo. Unique, primitive illustrations of cut
aluminum collage resonate well with the charms.
The creators of the book do not aim to dismiss
readers’ feelings of fear, but rather to share it andoffer companionship and courage. (Hiromatsu)

つかまえた（Tsukamaeta）| Text/Ill. Tashima, Seizo | Kaiseisha | 2020 | 32pp | 29x23cm | ISBN 9784032220209 |Ages: 3+ | Boy, Fish, Life, Touch

11

Tetsuko Puu:

The Girl Who Turned into a Balloon
テツコ・プー（Tetsuko puu）| Text/Ill. Kojima, Naomi |Kaiseisha | 2020 | 32pp | 25x21cm | ISBN 9784033329703| Ages: 3+ | Grumpy, Siblings, Sky, Balloon

Tetsuko Puu has been grumpy since she woke up
this morning. At breakfast, she pinches her brother and gets in trouble. Grumpier than ever, shehides herself inside the curtains. But then, when
she stays grumpy, her body puffs up like a balloon
and flies right out the window, into the sky! This is
the first picture book in ten years from a creator
who empathizes with young children’s ineffable
feelings of frustration. She expresses them in lightlines and soft colors, adding just the right humorous words. Tetsuko Puu remains fiercely stubborn
even while flailing through the sky, but in the end,
she manages a small smile and returns to hermother’s arms. After reading, readers are sure torelax and feel at ease. (Hiromatsu)

Seaweed Wrap

のりまき（Norimaki）| Text/Ill. Konishi, Eiko | Fukuinkan
Shoten | 2019 | 24pp | 22x21cm | ISBN 9784834085082 |Ages: 3+ | Seaweed wraps, Cooking, Food, Japanese foodTraditional Japanese food is registered as an
Intangible World Heritage. Norimaki, or wraps
made with nori seaweed, have long been madefor special occasions such as gatherings. Spreading out a sheet of nori, one layers on rice, vegetables, and fish or seafood and rolls it all up with thenori to the outside. Then, one slides the roll. This
picture book shows the process with large illustrations that each fill a two-page spread. Rhythmic
language and warm illustrations get readers more
and more excited to see next steps. The final image of many colorful, tastefully arranged norimaki
brings joy and satisfaction in their completion.
The book also shows why every norimaki from aroll has the same pattern, and how to use a tool
like a mini bamboo mat called a makisu. (Sakaguchi)

5

12

13

It's a Secret, OK?

The Gourd and the Frog

Blow Gently

A young boy tells the reader of this book allabout his special secrets: If you walk around asmall, empty barn on tin can stilts, a horse madeof straw and wood will run out! If you scramble
over a log and then whistle with a blade of grass,a train with a raccoon dog conductor will arrive!
Many children have such special places and rules
for unlocking their magic, and by sharing his withthe whisper, “It’s a secret, OK?” the boy shares thejoy of his independent play and daydreams. The
writer-illustrator, who excels at ghost story andmonster illustrations, brings the boy’s imaginary
world to vivid life, arousing rich emotions such as
delight, surprise, and fright at what the boy sees.
(Hiromatsu)

When a gourd on a vine extending over a pond
drops into the water—bokkuriko!—a frog that had
been relaxing, stretched out on a lotus leaf, jumps
onto it—gekkoriko! When the gourd sinks due tothe frog’s weight, the frog carries the gourd on its
back instead. It’s a simple story, but the onomatopoeia repeats, adding delight until the finale: “Go,go, gekkoriko, gekkori! Bokkuri, bokkuriko!” Thebasis is a 1932 poem by Saijo Yaso, a poet representative of the Taisho and Showa eras (1926-89),
who released the poem with music on a record.
The illustrator brings it back to life as a humorous picture book with fun, enjoyable illustrations.
(Sakuma)

Colored water has been drip-dropped on white
paper. The text says, “Hey, can you blow gently?”
When you turn the page, you can see the resultof blowing on the colored water: the yellow drop
is a sun, the green drop grows into grass, and the
purple water extends like needles to become ahedgehog parent and child. Using the contemporary art technique of dripping (blowing), monochrome line art overlaid with vivid hues changes
unexpectedly, creating a story. The author-illustrator, who teaches children’s art classes, presents
the picture book as if running a workshop withyoung readers, deftly drawing them into thebook’s world and kindling their desire to create.
Upon reading the play ideas at the end of thisbook, you will want to give them a try! (Hiromatsu)

ひみつだからね（Himitsu dakara ne）| Text/Ill. Karube,
Takehiro | Kaiseisha | 2020 | 32pp | 31x23cm | ISBN
9784032326208 | Ages: 3+ | Secret, Daydream, Independent play

15

ひょうたんとかえる（Hyotan to kaeru）| Text: Saijo, Yaso
| Ill. Tonouchi, Maho | Suzuki Shuppan | 2020 | 24pp
| 22x21cm | ISBN 9784790254102 | Ages: 3+ | Gourd,
Pond, Frog, Rhythm

16

I'm Waiting.

（Matte iru.）| Text/Ill. Murakami, Yasuまっている。
nari | Kodansha | 2020 | 32pp | 27x22cm | ISBN
9784065200940 | Ages: 3+ | Nature, Time, Living things

Surrounded by nature, a boy casts his fishing line.
He watches the float bob above the hook andwaits for a bite. A spider, too, deftly spins its web
and waits for prey. Flowers exude color and scent
and wait for bees or butterflies to stop. A salamander behind a rock, a cicada larva in the soil …
all are waiting patiently for a certain moment. In
nature, waiting is important for life. This book’s
creator is himself a fisherman and a nature lover;while employing a simplistic style, he captures thecharacteristics of the featured creatures. His backgrounds use only a rough touch and color, creating the effect of screen layout. As if drawing in a
deep breath of fresh air, the reader of this book
comfortably recalls the abundant “waiting time”
that is being lost in today’s society. (Hiromatsu)

6

14

ふーってして（Fut-te shite）| Text/Ill. Matsuda,
Nanako | Kadokawa | 2020 | 32pp | 22x22cm | ISBN
9784041091371 | Ages: 3+ | Colors, Paint, Making

17

Everyone's Sushi

みんなのおすし（Minna no osushi）| Text/Ill. Harapekomegane | Poplar | 2019 | 50pp | 27x19cm | ISBN
9784591162514 | Ages: 3+ | Sushi counter, Flap book,Black humor

A sushi counter is illustrated from above: a sushi
chef at the left, sushi ingredients like sashimi inthe middle, and customer(s) on the right. Customers come and go as the chef makes sushi to order.
At first, only the hands of the chef and each customer are seen, and then when one lifts the flaps,
one can see who is eating the sushi. Customers
include an office worker, a parent and child, andfictitious creatures. Who belongs to the green
hand that likes cucumber, the hairy hand thatorders meat, the huge hand of one who eats anentire wooden tub of chirashi zushi? Parents andchildren will have lively conversations! After closing, the sushi restaurant’s unexpected true form
is revealed to much surprise. The male and female
duo behind this title are masters at illustrating
food deliciously. (Hiromatsu)

The Vegetables Slay the Damon

やさいのおにたいじ（Yasai no oni taiji）| Text/Ill. Tsuruta,
Yoko | Fukuinkan Shoten | 2020 | 32pp | 20x27cm | ISBN
9784834085471 | Ages: 3+ | Folktale, Demon, Vegetable

Many short, illustrated stories were created inJapan from the 14th through 16th centuries. This
book adapts one such story for children: a demonslaying tale set in Kyoto. A demon (oni) is an imaginary, symbolic monster with a horn on its headthat brings misfortune to humans. In this book,
Kyoto vegetables such as carrot, eggplant andmatsutake mushroom join forces and use wisdomand courage to fight the demon. It is possible tofollow this story entirely through the illustrations,which flow from right to left continuously like apicture scroll (emakimono). The defeated demon
is konnyaku, a jelly-like food made from a plant in
the taro family, often eaten in Japan. (Sakaguchi)

絵本
18

19

20

The Ghost in the Attic

I'm Going To Be a Sumo Announcer

Cherry Valley

A small ghost living alone in the attic of an oldhouse is a shape-shifter and can fly in the sky, butrarely does due to fear of the outdoors. One night,
the moon is so beautiful that the ghost goes out
and flies just once through the night sky aroundthe house. Starting the next day, a little girl who
lives in the house begins to visit the attic eachday. The ghost tries to scare the girl to protect
its room, but to no avail. The curious, spirited girlbecomes friends with the ghost in this humorous,
charming story. Illustrations are drawn in detailwith charcoal pencil, in monotone with minimalcolor used to effect; the soft expression and scene
development warm the heart. (Nogami)

Sumo wrestling, Japan’s national sport, has a history of 1500 years. Traditional Japanese culture
is still alive and well within the sumo world. This
story is about a boy who longs to become ayobidashi, the man who stands in the sumo ring
announcing the names of the wrestlers before
each bout. On his fifth birthday, the boy’s familytake him to a large sumo tournament where hemeets a yobidashi. The story follows the boy’s
apprenticeship when he graduates from juniorhigh school and his emergence as a full-fledged
yobidashi. Along the way, readers learn about the
many traditional jobs that form the foundation of
the sport. (Sakaguchi)

Walking along a mountain path in early spring,a man stumbles upon a valley where the cherrytrees are already in full bloom. The sound ofvoices raised in song draws him down into thevalley. There a band of colorful ogres invite him
to join their blossom-viewing party. Their picnic
lunch smells familiar, and the man notes withsurprise that it looks just like the ones his motherused to make. The ogres and the man launch intoa game of hide-and-seek, but when the man is“it”, he opens his eyes to find that the ogres havedisappeared. Instead, among the trees, he sees
his parents and grandmother, who have all passed
away. The dreamlike images set against a backdrop of falling petals and the hint of lonelinesswithin the spectacular settings are eloquently rendered. (Nogami)

やねうらべやのおばけ（Yaneura beya no obake）| Text/
Ill. Shiotani, Mamiko | Kaiseisha | 2020 | 32pp | 25x19cm| ISBN 9784033500102 | Ages: 3+ | Ghost, Night, Friendship21

おれ、よびだしになる（Ore yobidashi ni naru）| Text:
Nakagawa, Hirotaka | Ill. Ishikawa, Eriko | Alice-kan |2019 | 32pp | 28x22cm | ISBN 9784752009085 | Ages: 7+| Sumo, Announcer, Growth, Pursuing your dream

22

Tiny Dragon

ちび竜（Chibi ryu）| Text: Kudo, Naoko | Ill. Abe,
Hiroshi | Doshinsha | 2019 | 36pp | 26x26cm | ISBN
9784494012466 | Ages 7+ | Dragon, Life, Identity

Tiny Dragon was born from a tiny drop in a puddle. Where is this? Who am I? Taught and helped
along by creatures around him, he practices his
dragon powers. He takes off from the puddle
and whirls with dandelion fuzz. Learning from a
dragonfly in the air, a Crucian carp in the water,
and a mole in the earth, he grows into a Great
Dragon. A double-page spread with foldouts
stunningly shows the dragon, now able to create
mountain twilight, ocean billows, rainbows, mist,
and thunder. The illustrator of this book, a former
zookeeper, uses black and white with limited color
to express natural forms from mosquito larvae tothe Milky Way reverently. The dragon grows large
enough to cradle the whole world, from specks tospace to the reader. Magnificently humorous andmoving. (Hiromatsu)

さくらの谷（Sakura no tani）| Text: Tomiyasu, Yoko
| Illus. Matsunari, Mariko | Kaiseisha | 2020 | 32pp |26x22cm | ISBN 9784033330006 | Ages: 7+ | Cherrytrees, Ogres, Ancestors, Hide-and-seek

23

I Wonder What

なんだろうなんだろう（Nandaro nandaro）| Text/Ill.
Yoshitake, Shinsuke | Mitsumura Educational | 2019
| 48pp | 24x19cm | ISBN 9784813802648 | Ages: 7+|
Morality, Philosophy, Doubt

On the way to school, a boy is greeted by local
adults. In the midst of this everyday conversation, the boy wonders suddenly, What is school,
exactly? What is fun? This picture book pulls
together episodes the author drew for morality
education textbooks for grades one through nine,plus new material. In an omnibus format where
the main character’s grade goes up as you read,twelve themes that children may ponder at different ages (school, fun, truth, friendship, happiness,self, justice, forgiveness, independence, perspective, normality, dreams) are approached with
the question, What is it? Full of humor, this bookoffers jumping-off points for individual readers tothink on their own. (Hiromatsu)

Noの（No）| Text/Ill. junaida | Fukuinkan Shoten | 2019
| 78pp | 24x18cm | ISBN 9784834085303 | Ages: 7+ |Words, Neverending story, Daydream

This picture book is built around の, a characterin Japan’s hiragana syllabary and a particle that issaid not to map exactly into any other language.
Depending on the context, it can mean of, on,in, and more. The reader follows these meanings while paging through the book. “Mine,”“my favorite coat,” “the castle in my coat pocket”
and more connect in a surprising progression ofimages and story. Detailed, fantastical drawings
capture the eye, and when a long sentence ends
on the final page, one wants to turn back to thebeginning and start again. The book is almost alabyrinth. Its physical form also merits attention:
The lack of endpapers or colophon and a cover
the same trim size as the pages suit the cyclicalcontent; on the front, の is embossed in gold on
white with an illustration that ties all the contents
together. (Hiromatsu)

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25

Ranka: The Girl Who Came to JapanOne Day, One TimePulsatilla Cernua

Ranka is a 10-year-old girl, who has come to Japan
from a country that is warm all year round andfilled with green. Arriving at a school where shedoes not understand the language or the writing,she feels “alone in the world.” she gets confusedby the various customs and grows worried andnervous. One day, when recalling her home shetries to climb a tree in the playground as she used
to, a classmate pulls her leg to stop her becauseof the danger. But Ranka mistakes this for bullying
and it makes her cry. Schools across Japan now
serve more than forty thousand children withroots overseas. The author, who teaches Japanese,conveys the need to connect despite the language
barrier—not only for students who arrive fromdifferent countries, but also for students who
receive them. (Hiromatsu)

During the Second World War, Japan occupied
northeastern China, which it named Manchuria.
Many Japanese moved there as settlers. The main
character in this story is a little girl who lives inManchuria. Her favorite toy is a wooden kokeshi
doll that her father brought back from Japan as agift. She names the doll Haruko and takes it withher everywhere, even to her friend’s house andthe air raid shelter. When Japan loses the war,
however, the girl and her family have to sell orburn everything they own, and Haruko is thrownon the fire. The author, who lived as a child in Dalian in northeastern China during the war, imbues
this book with her yearning for peace and reveals
the deep sorrow that children experience in the
shadow of wars waged by grownups. (Sakuma)

Pulsatilla cernua is a perennial in the buttercup
family. When the sunlight hits their dark reddishpurple flower petals at a certain angle, they turn adeep vibrant red. The stem, leaves and flowers arecovered in soft down that shines like silver velvet.
Early one spring, two of these flowers gaze up at
the clouds flowing across the snowy mountains
and wish they could float in the sky. Two months
later, their flowers turn to silver tufts. One by one,the shining tufts are carried into the northern sky.
The author imagines that their small flower spirits
have ascended into the heavens to become variable stars. The breathtaking illustrations capture
the magical effect of light transforming the flowers and shimmering on the fuzzy down. (Nogami)

ランカ（Ranka）| Text: Noro, Kikue | Ill. Matsunari,
Mariko | Kaiseisha | 2020 | 32pp | 23x25cm | ISBN
9784034351505 | Ages: 7+ | New student, Immigration,
Friendship27

あるひあるとき（Aru hi aru toki）| Text: Aman, Kimiko | Ill.
Sasameya, Yuki | Nora Shoten | 2020 | 35pp | 27x22cm| ISBN 9784905015543 | Ages: 7+ | Kokeshi doll, War,
Evacuation

28

The Mirror and Chikori

かがみとチコリ（Kagani to Chikori）| Text: Kadono, Eiko
| Ill. Oikawa, Kenji | Kodansha | 2019 | 32pp | 23x22cm |ISBN 9784065172155 | Ages: 9+ | Mirror, Growth, Love

8

26

A young couple moves into a house that was built
105 years ago and has been empty for years. One
wall is covered in a large mirror. Whenever something happy occurs, the mirror sparkles. Afterthe couple’s daughter Chikori is born, the mirror
watches over her, entertaining her, comforting
her, and at times, envying her. Chikori grows froma precocious child into a beautiful woman andfalls in love with a handsome young man. As theday when she and the mirror must part approaches, the mirror’s love for Chikori vacillates between
that of a parent and that of a lover. It takes greatskill to personify a mirror but the illustrator, using
vivid four-color illustrations, has done a superb
job of visually expressing the mirror’s emotions
with a graphic and humorous touch. This is theauthor Eiko Kadono’s first picture book since she
won the 2018 Hans Christian Anderson Award for
Writing. (Hiromatsu)

おきなぐさ（Okinagusa）| Text: Miyazawa, Kenji | Ill. Jinsaki, Soko | Miki House | 2019 | 40pp | 26x24cm | ISBN
9784895881432 | Ages: 9+ | Flowers, Nature, Light, Wind

29

Fire

ファイアー（Faia）| Text/Ill. Hasagawa, Shuhei | Rironsha| 2020 | 32pp | 27x19cm | ISBN 9784652203781 | Ages:
9+ | Monsters, Fire, Friendship, War

After watching a monster movie on TV, the boy inthis story gets excited and can’t sleep. Soon thewails of fire engines and ambulances rouse him.
It’s a fire! When he goes out onto the balcony, hesees that a fire has broken out near the apartments where a girl in his class lives. When he goesto school the next day, the girl and her family are
sheltering in the gym, and she does not come toclass. The main character and his friends decide tovisit her, and they hear about her scary experienceof evacuating her home. Images of fire-breathing
monsters, house fires, and war come together in
the illustrations, which add further discoveries anddepth. The main character receives a talisman that
his classmate claims protected her from the fire.
More than just a charm to ward off disaster, it canalso be seen as a talisman for peace. (Nogami)

My Dad is Coolとうちゃんは むしゃんよか（Tochan wa mushan yoka）| Text: Uchida, Rintaro | Ill. Nishimura, Shigeo | Mitsumura Educational | 2020 | 32pp | 27x22cm | ISBN

9784895722629 | Ages: 11+ | Festival, Dialect, Friendship,
FatherOn the way to school, a boy is greeted by local
adults. In the midst of this everyday conversation, the boy wonders suddenly, What is school,
exactly? What is fun? This picture book pulls
together episodes the author drew for morality
education textbooks for grades one through nine,plus new material. In an omnibus format where
the main character’s grade goes up as you read,twelve themes that children may ponder at different ages (school, fun, truth, friendship, happiness,self, justice, forgiveness, independence, perspective, normality, dreams) are approached with
the question, What is it? Full of humor, this bookoffers jumping-off points for individual readers tothink on their own. (Hiromatsu)

絵本 / 読みもの

RecentChapterBooks
and Novels

31

Rettsu, Tummy

レッツはおなか（Lettsu wa onaka）| Text: Hiko Tanaka | Ill.
Yoshitake, Shinsuke | Kodansha | 2020 | 64pp | 20x16cm |ISBN 9784065184165 | Ages: 5+ | Parent and child, Baby,
Birth, Tummy, Heaven

Mommy is sitting on the sofa and says, “I need abreak!” Lying down with her head on Daddy’s lap,she says, “Oh, that feels good.” Later, Daddy places
his head on Mommy’s lap and says, “Ah, this isheaven.”“Heaven?” says five-year-old Rettsu.
“The place we go when we die,” Daddy replies.
“Daddy, are you going to die?”Daddy quickly explains that he said “heaven” to mean something felt
good. After that, Rettsu puts his head on Mommy’s lap. As Mommy strokes
his head, she murmurs, “This makes me think of when you were in mytummy.” Rettsu doesn’t understand, so Mommy explains how he grew bigger and bigger inside her tummy and then was born. Rettsu learns that hewas connected to Mommy from his belly button and wonders why he wasn’t
connected to Daddy. Daddy says, “Rettsu, you are a gift from heaven.” Rettsu
answers, “Oh, I see, you’re taking care of me while you have me.” He seems
oddly persuaded.
Loving, big-hearted parents respond to the wonderings of a five-year-old
about his birth. The conversation leads to some interesting places. Rettsu
learns how important it is that he is here in his family. While re-creating a
happy, everyday moment in a family that enjoys being together, this bookalso brings out how three people’s ideas and words can get mixed up, which
is funny and fun. (Nogami)

30

Hello from the Wildcat

やまねこの こんにちは（Yamaneko no konnichiwa）| Text: Hasegawa, Satomi | Akane Shobo | 2019 | 64pp
| 21x17cm | ISBN 9784251011060 | Ages: 5+ | Animals,
Friendship, Moving, Greeting

A wildcat who has moved into a small house in
the forest steps out to greet the neighbors. While
wondering just how to greet them, the wildcat
hears voices ahead on the road. “Someone has
just moved into that house, right?” “I wonder who
it is.” “I hope we can meet them!”
This perks the wildcat up, but then the conversation goes on. “I hope
the person is stylish,” says a squirrel girl. The wildcat races home to get as
stylish as possible. Next the hedgehog says, “I hope the person knows manythings.” The piglet says, “I hope the person likes singing.” With every comment, the wildcat races home to spiff up and meet the animal’s expectations
before starting out again.
Then the badger says, “I hope the person likes snacks at three o’clock,”so the wildcat hurries home to make prize cookies and invite everyone toeat. But while baking the cookies and singing a song, the wildcat sees smoke
pouring out of the oven and quickly removes the cookies. That makes thewildcat’s tail catch on fire, and it races out of the house crying!
Hearing this, the other animals race over, and while dousing the wounded
tail in the garden pond, the wildcat greets them in a small voice. With thisunexpected incident, the animals instantly become friends, and by the endof the story, they are playing hide-and-seek with the wildcat in the woods.
This is a humorous, smile-bringing story; the illustrations of animal characters in pale tones are cute and charming. (Nogami)

32

Together On Rainy Days

雨の日は、いっしょに（Ame no hi wa issho ni）| Text:
Okubo, Usagi | Ill. Tonouchi, Maho | Kosei Shuppansha |2020 | 64pp | 20x16cm | ISBN 9784333028276 | Ages: 7+| Umbrella, Rain

This tale follows the adventures of a yellow umbrella that is swept away from its owner, Haru, aboy in grade one. In the first scene, the umbrella
waits in a stand by the door, wishing he was collapsible and could change his size or was madeof clear plastic that could take on any color. Just then, Haru grabs him andopens him up as he steps outside. But Haru trips and falls, and a gust of windgrabs the umbrella and carries it up into the sky.
Thus begins the umbrella’s journey. First he meets a polka dot umbrellain the park. He feels a pang of envy when he learns that her owner has given
her a name: “Miss Polka-dot.” Next he meets a big black umbrella that belongs to an old man. The man takes the yellow umbrella to a police station,
but the umbrella slips from the policeman’s hand and once again rides thewind until he is caught in a tree branch. Gazing down on all the umbrellas
and people passing below, he begins to feel lonely.
Haru sees him in the tree and asks an older boy with a blue umbrella tofetch him down. Catching sight of his reflection with Haru in a curb mirror,
the umbrella thinks, “Maybe Haru and I make a good pair.” The next day, theumbrella shares tales of his adventures with his friends in the umbrella stand.
A humorous portrayal of an umbrella that learns to see where he belongs
through his misadventures. The entertaining collage-like illustrations help
the reader to see things from the umbrella’s perspective. (Doi)933

The School Kappa Moves

がっこうかっぱのおひっこし（Gakko kappa no ohikkoshi）| Text: Yamamoto, Etsuko | Ill. Ichii, Mika | Doshinsha | 2019
| 96pp | 22x16cm | ISBN 9784494020591 | Ages: 7+ | Frogs,
Ponds, School, Kappa, Friendship

34

Bitter Persimmon, Dried Persimmon,
Sweet Persimmon

しぶがきほしがきあまいかき（Shibugaki, hoshigaki, amaikaki）| Text/Ill. Ishikawa, Eriko | Fukuinkan Shoten | 2019 |88pp | 22x16cm | ISBN 9784834084788 | Ages: 7+ | Persimmons, Making, Preserving food, Traditional foodAutumn in Japan is the season of harvest. One
autumn day, a girl named Chie joins her siblings,
parents and grandma in a group of six to pick persimmons in their garden. Her brother climbs a tree
and gets a sweet persimmon. Not wanting to be bested, Chie climbs as well,only to taste her first bitter persimmon. She cries! Her grandma tells her asecret: if you work magic on a bitter persimmon, it turns sweet. Peel and boil
it, and then hang it in the sun to make a dried persimmon.
Chie puts persimmons on hangers; her sister deftly threads them onto
strings; and her brother heaves the strings over a long branch. Together,
they create a kaki sudare, which is like a colorful curtain of persimmons drying outdoors. The persimmon curtain bathed by the sun, which is rendered
in only two colors—scarlet and black—is beautiful. Through a traditional
method of food preservation, the wisdom of forbears and richness of autumn come to life.
When the dried persimmons are almost ready, it turns out that somethinghas been snacking on them. Chie springs from her futon at night to spot thethief! The illustration of her stuffing her mouth with sweet, dried persimmon
the next morning is the picture of delicious bliss.
This book’s storyline is easy to follow, and its ending will impart a senseof security and satisfaction to children. The panoramic art that occupies thefirst and last six pages incorporates Chie’s house, her family’s two persimmon trees, and the bamboo grove that supplies material for their tools,
letting readers enjoy searching for where the story takes place. A children’s
story with ample, warm illustrations and relaxed typography. (Sakaguchi)

10

区立あたまのてっぺん小学校（Kuritsu atama no teppen
shogakko）| Text: Mabe, Kayo | Ill. Tanaka, Rokudai | Kinnohoshisha | 2020 | 96pp | 22x16cm | ISBN 9784323074528| FriendshipOn his first day of the second term of second grade,
Ryo feels something odd on top of his head, so hechecks a mirror. On his head, he sees small desks,
chairs, a chalkboard, four tiny green people, and asign that says Head-Top Elementary School! The sign
says that the school belongs to the city ward, so Ryo goes to the ward office.
There, Mr. Tanaka tells Ryo that because he plays outside a lot, his head getsgood sun; because he eats his lunch slowly, the little people can eat some of
his food. Because his hair is short, they can get along very easily. Ryo, however, says he doesn’t want to be unlike everyone else. “Please find a different
head-top as soon as possible!” he says.
The four little people—three children and their teacher, Ms. Kimidori—occupy Ryo’s head only while he is at school. One day, Ms. Kimidori says thatthey wish to go along on Ryo’s field trip the next day. With the principal’s
permission, they accompany Ryo to the aquarium, but the little boy named
Jiro becomes lost. Ryo’s classmates help to search for him, and he appears atlast. After that, even if Ryo’s classmates tease him, he replies that it’s naturalfor him to have the little people on his head. He even tells Mr. Tanaka that
Head-Top Elementary School can stay. Mr. Tanaka informs Ryo that the little
people have been helping with their area’s greenification project.
This book combines the delightful idea of a tiny school on top of one’s
head, with Ryo’s experience of learning an important truth: it’s OK to differ
from others. Both the illustrations and the text skillfully convey a humorous
atmosphere. (Doi)Told in the first person, this is the story of a boy wholives with his single mother. Because he attended
a preschool located near her workplace, he has nofriends in his own neighborhood and finds it hard to
fit in when he starts elementary school. Even after a
few months, he spends recesses on his own, feeding the carp in the school
pond or hunting for lizards. The school announces that it will be draining thepond to build a biotope. The day before construction begins, the boy goesto the pond, feeling sad because he won’t be able to talk with the fish andlizards anymore. Suddenly, a frog-like creature climbs up his leg. Looking
closely, the boy realizes that it is a kappa. He brings it home but goes to bed
without knowing how to tell his mother. In the morning, perhaps because hehas been worrying all night, he wakes up with a fever and stays home fromschool. One of his classmates comes to bring him his homework. He notices
the kappa, who is starving, and finds it something to eat. Thanks to the
kappa, the boy becomes friends with his classmates and together they return
the kappa to the pond once the biotope is finished. The kappa gives them aguided tour of the mysteries of the pond. Through the medium of the imaginary creature who serves as the pool’s guardian spirit, the solitary boy makes
friends and becomes part of the class. This enjoyable fantasy captures thepsychology of a lonely boy who has difficulty at first making friends. (Nogami)

35

Head-Top Elementary School

36

Snow White Chirika, Oh So Small

しらゆきちりか ちっちゃいな（Shirayuki Chirika chicchaina）| Text: Kun, Kumiko | Ill. Oshima, Taeko | PHP Institute |2020 | 80pp | 22x16cm | ISBN 9784569789163 | Ages: 7+ |Friendship, Lion, High bar, Moving

The main character in this book is a young girlnamed Chirika, who hates school. Why? The boy Lion
who sits behind her is big and wild like a lion, andhe teases her: “Snow White Chirika, oh so small!” He
pulls her hair, hides her indoor shoes, and even puts

a frog in her pencil box.
One rainy day, on the way home from school, Chirika encounters Lion on
the footpath between two rice fields, blocking the way with his arms spreadwide. When Chirika draws near, she sees that some tiny, newly metamorphosed frogs are on the move, and Lion is guarding them.
Lion is usually good at sports, but he struggles with the high iron bar. He
can’t do a back hip circle. He practices with Chirika after school, and he manages to do the move with advice from Chirika, who succeeded at it first. Unfortunately, the blisters on Chirika’s hands hurt, and she drops her backpack
when she picks it up. Lion grabs the backpack and runs off with it. Angry andabout to cry, Chirika goes home—to find the backpack at her front door. And
before she has a chance to thank him, Lion transfers to another school.
Through various episodes involving Chirika, the smallest girl in theclass, and Lion, who appears huge and rough through her eyes, somethingchanges. Chirika begins to feel differently toward Lion. This work freshly
portrays the subtle emotions felt by children new to school, who are learning
to get along with people of other genders. A work of juvenile literature thatwill resonate with and stay in the hearts of children the same age. (Nogami)

読みもの
37

Handkerchief Friends

ハンカチともだち（Hankachi tomodahcci）| Text: Nakagawa, Chihiro | Alice-kan | 2019 | 96pp | 21x16cm | ISBN
9784752009047 | Ages: 7+ | Handkerchief, Little people,
Friendship38

A young girl makes a friend thanks to a mysterious
handkerchief.
One morning, Haru finds a handkerchief in her
drawer with the design of a tiny person sleeping ina bed. As she watches, the person rolls over! Haruputs the handkerchief in her pocket and goes to school, but the little person
is constantly on her mind. When she peeks during class, the person is awake
and reading a book.
Haru tries not to use her handkerchief that day, but it’s hard. When she
doesn’t take it out to help a classmate who spills her food at lunch, theclassmate gets angry. Fortunately, a girl named Miyon, who sticks out a bit intheir class, brings a bunch of cloths to wipe up the mess.
In art, Haru sketches on her own. When she peeks, the person on thehandkerchief is busily planting a flower bed. After school, Haru can’t help
mentioning her handkerchief and showing it off to Mion. Mion shows her
own handkerchief, which has a green iguana on it, and the person on Haru’s
handkerchief makes friends with the iguana on Mion’s. Haru and Mion also
grow closer.
Each page of this book has an illustration; Haru’s handkerchief and Mion’sslightly stubborn, unique personality come through. Even as the fun ofenjoying one’s own world comes across, the joy of making a friend to sharesecrets with is also shown. (Doi)39

Atelier Kiki

ぼくとキキと アトリエで（Boku to Kiki to atorie de）| Text/
Ill. Nakagawa, Hironori | Bunken Shuppan | 2020 | 128pp| 22x16cm | ISBN 9784580824065 | Ages: 9+ | Painting,
Friendship, Shopping area

This novel has two halves. In the first half, nine-yearold Ryo invites peevish Teppei to a painting classfor kids. In the second half, the painting class does acommemorative project before a major renovationof their town’s shopping area.
Ryo studies art with Ms. Kiki, who is slightly older than his mother. Kiki
teaches seven students from kindergarten-age to sixth grade. Ryo loves
it when Ms. Kiki looks at his art and says “great!” and gives him a hug. His
classmate at school, terrible Teppei, tells him, “So what, you can paint! You’ll
never amount to anything.” Ryo suspects that Teppei says this because heactually wants to paint, so he invites him. Presently, in the shopping area,
there’s an event to sell paintings for 100 yen apiece. Teppei takes somepaintings he made with adult help, but they barely sell. While some children
disparage Teppei’s way of doing things, Ms. Kiki helps him understand that
art is something we do for pleasure.
After that, when the art students find out that the whole shopping area
will close for two years for renovations, they think of a plan to paint the area
as a group, and they make it happen. At the end, all of the students paintAtelier Kiki itself.
The author of this book is also a picture book artist, whose work explores
what art and painting are and can do. His text and illustrations engagingly
portray the different children who study at Atelier Kiki, and the adults in the
shopping area who help Ryo. (Doi)Me, Mom, and the Caravan

ぼくと母さんのキャラバン（Boku to kasan no kyaraban）| Text: Kashiwaba, Sachiko | Ill. Izumi, Masashi | Kodansha |2020 | 160pp | 22x16cm | ISBN 9784065186152 | Ages: 9+ |Camels, Mother, Parallel world, Ghosts

This book features a fifth-grade boy nicknamed Tomoby his parents and friends. Lately, Tomo’s motherhas been up to something. She doesn’t normally goout a lot, but recently she has gone all over town,
and when Tomo and his father talk to her, she is in
another world. Literally, it turns out!
One night, when Tomo’s father is away on business, Tomo finishes his bathand goes to get a drink from the fridge. Standing behind him is a mouse thatis taller than his mother and can speak! Alarmed, Tomo calls for his motherbut hears no answer. It’s after ten at night, but she seems to have gone out.
Apparently, Tomo’s world crosses every few years with another world thathas giant mice, bears, and rabbits. His mother has made a promise to theanimals of that world to lead a caravan of camels to a mountain observatory,
bearing important cargo. While trying to figure out the route, she seems tohave gotten lost. Tomo does not fully understand but leads the caravan often loaded camels while questing to find his mother. Strange characters are
released from bridge’s guardians, from animal-shaped playground equipments, and even from signs and displays in Tomo’s town’s shopping area.
Some of these characters hinder Tomo, and some help him. He narrowly
escapes threatening ghosts. When set upon by a legendary princess and herson, who were separated during the Warring States period (1467-1568), Tomoand his mother barely escape with their lives. Tomo’s incredible, time- andspace-crossing quest to find his mother makes for an unpredictable, exciting
adventure. (Nogami)

40

The Contrary Prince
and the Black Cat from Tang

天邪鬼な皇子と 唐の黒猫（Amanojaku na miko to To no kuroneko）| Text: Watanabe, Senshu | Ill. Tanji, Yoko | Poplar |2020 | 304pp | 20x14cm | ISBN 9784591164921 | Ages: 11+ |Heian period (9th century), Cat, Emperor

In the ninth century, a black tomcat is caught in China
and brought back to Japan as a gift for the emperor.
The emperor gives the cat to Sadami, one of his sons.
In his previous life, the cat had been a Chinese warlord, and he can still understand and speak with humans. First Sadami keeps
the cat in a basket and walks it on a leash. The cat, however, negotiates with
Sadami for his freedom on the condition that he will always come back to
Sadami’s house. Sadami names the cat “Kuro”.
In the human world, the Fujiwara clan, not the emperor, controls politicalpower. Commanded by his father, Sadami marries a woman named Taneko
from the Fujiwara family, even though he is already married to a woman
named Yoshiko. Yoshiko loves reading and studying. Likewise, Taneko loves
waka poetry and dreams of her son becoming emperor and compiling awaka collection. Taneko and Yoshiko become good friends. Meanwhile, inthe cat world, Kuro takes up residence in Ukyo on the west side of Kyoto,and secures himself a position by winning a match with Kitora, the boss ofstray cats in that area. Hakutaku, the boss of Sakyo on the east side of Kyoto
challenges Kuro to a duel. Kuro injures Hakutaku during this battle only to
discover that she understands human language and is, in fact, the reincarnation of his lover Gu in their previous life. Hakutaku is subsequently killed by
one of her underlings, and Kuro ends up raising her son Haku.
Three years after Kuro came to Japan, the emperor dies, but by a strategy
set in place before his death, Sadami ascends to the throne. Fujiwara no Mototsune, however, interferes with Sadami’s attempt to rule, and Kuro pitches
in to help Sadami.
The story is a humorous depiction of territorial conflicts occurring withinboth the Japanese aristocracy and cat society in the ninth century throughthe eyes of Kuro, the black cat. (Doi)

11

41

Ali Baba's Cat Is Listening

アリババの猫がきいている（Aribaba no neko ga kiite iru）
| Text: Shindo, Etsuko | Ill. Satake, Miho | Poplar | 2020 |
224pp | 21x16cm | ISBN 9784591165829 | Ages: 11+ | Cat,World, Folkcrafts, Refugees

42

The Fox Bridge

きつねの橋（Kitsune no Hashi）| Text: Kubota, Kaori | Ill.
Satake, Miho | Kaiseisha | 2019 | 216pp | 22x16cm | ISBN
9784035405603 | Ages: 11+ | Heian period (10th century),Fox, Thieves, Fantasy

This fantasy is set in tenth-century Kyoto and follows
the adventures of fifteen-year-old Sadamichi who
befriends a shape-changing fox and captures a bandof thieves.
Sadamichi has just been assigned to serve underMinamoto no Yorimitsu. He captures a fox that can turn into a human, only
to let her go again when he finds his coworkers bullying her. Later, Sadamichi and his friend Suetake make a name for themselves by defeating theunderlings of Hakamadare, a master thief, but Hakamadare exacts revenge
by stealing Sadamichi’s sword and horse.
The freed fox, who calls herself Hazuki, is the handmaiden of Princess
Takako, a young maiden who has been separated from her mother to serve
at Kyoto’s Kamo Shrine. The princess’s family is poor, and Hazuki asks Sadamichi to help her obtain a fan for the princess to use at a festival. When
Sadamachi and his friend Suetake visit the home of another friend, Kimitomo, they run into the fifth prince and end up saving from an attack by ademon. In return, the prince gives Sadamichi a fan.
Sadamichi, Suetake and Kimitomo come up with a plan to capture themaster thief, Hakamadare. Sadamichi disguises himself as Princess Takako
and joins the festival procession with the fan. Hakamadare attempts to steal
the fan but fails. Instead, however, he steals all the weapons of Sadamichi’smaster from the storehouse. After this, he attacks Princess Takako once
again, but this time it is the fox, Hazuki, who is impersonating the princess.
Sadamichi hears Hazuki’s voice and runs to her rescue.
The fast-paced, action-packed story keeps the reader engaged, as does
the rich and sometimes humorous portrayal of the trust that blossoms between man and fox and the friendship among the three young men. (Doi)12

科学でナゾとき！（Kagaku de nazo toki）| Text: Asada, Rin| Ill. Sato, Odori | Spv. Takayanagi, Yuichi | Kaiseisha | 2020
| 208pp | 19x13cm | ISBN 9784036491407 | Ages: 11+ |School, Mystery, Science, Father and son

Set in a school, the story relates four episodes rich inscientific knowledge. Shogo, a cocky sixth-grader, ishead of the children’s association. His father is a science teacher who teaches at many different schools,
one of which is Shogo’s. But Shogo is embarrassed byhis father’s clumsiness and begs him not to let anyone know they are related.
However, mysterious things are happening at Shogo’s school. First, theanatomical model in the science room bursts out laughing. When Shogo’stall, lanky father, who carries a giraffe toy in his pocket and has been dubbed
Professor Giraffe, hears that the children are frightened, he takes them toa park and uses a hose to show them that sound travel can long distances.
It becomes clear that the sound of laughter must have traveled along an
unused water pipe from another location.
The second mystery surrounds a transfer student from a distant island
who is upset that his classmates laughed because he painted the sunset
green. The third mystery involves a tube of lip gloss that disappears from theclassroom and shows up in a flower bed. In the final episode, a mermaid dollin the school library weeps red tears. Professor Giraffe conducts experiments
to solve each case, explaining the scientific facts behind them, such as lightwavelength, liquefaction, and the alkalinity and acidity of chemicals. During this process, Shogo’s opinion of his father changes. The author expertly
weaves scientific information into the story to make this a fascinating andinformative read. (Sakuma)

The main character is a Persian cat name Sheik who
understands the language of people and objects.
His owner, Ali Baba, is a linguist who fled from
Iran with his parents when he was a child and now
lives alone in Tokyo. When Ali Baba has to attend
an international conference, he leaves Sheik in the care of the owner of aworld folkcraft shop called Open Sesame. On the first night, while the ownersleeps, all the folkcrafts begin introducing themselves to Sheik. The firstto speak is Blue Glass from Herat, Afghanistan. The next is Sister Cord whocomes from the Turkmen plains of Afghanistan where many horses, sheep
and camels roam and who once adorned wedding camels. Round Auntie
Tile, who hangs on the wall, is from the city of Shiraz in Iran. The Amazon
Yancha are a noisy bunch of animal and fish dolls brought from the jungle of
Peru. The folkcrafts talk all night long. No one but Auntie Tile has talked to acat before.
The next night, Sheik is curled up in a sheet, sound asleep, when he iswoken by Blue Glass who tells him the folkcrafts want to share the stories of
their past. Auntie Tile goes first, relating how she started out as the lid to abee hive over a hundred years ago. Each night Sheik is regaled with dramatic
tales from the objects’ lives. Sensing their love for their homelands, he strives
gallantly to respond to their longing to be heard. Through their strange andwonderful stories, readers also learn about past events in various parts of
the world. (Nogami)

43

Solving Riddles Through Science!

44

Gifted, In My Case

ギフト、ぼくの場合（Gifuto boku no baai）| Text: Imai,
Kyoko | Shogakukan | 2020 | 232pp | 20x14cm | ISBN
9784092893030 | Ages: 11+ | Guitar, Poverty, Single-motherfamily, Craftsman

This story of a brave, honest child who forges his
own path in the face of adversity is reminiscent ofsuch classics as Burnett’s A Little Princess. But in its
portrayal of children and families who cannot escapepoverty and fall through the cracks in the public
safety net, it is a very contemporary tale.
The main character, Yuta, is in sixth grade. He lives with his mother andhis sister, who is in second grade. His mother, who divorced because of her
husband’s infidelity, has never worked before and has a hard time making
ends meet as she juggles her work at a screw factory with a part-time job ata convenience store.
Yuta cares deeply about his family, but the death of his younger sister
due to delayed treatment for appendicitis and the family’s deepening poverty take an emotional toll. In his rage at his father for deserting them, Yuta
destroys the guitar his father gave him in a symbolic act that severs theirrelationship. A student who is supposed to play the guitar at the school festival, however, breaks an arm, and Yuta is asked to fill in. Although he hasn’t
touched a guitar for some time and doing so brings back painful memories
of his father, he begins to see the world differently once he tastes again thejoy of playing music.
Yuta’s gift is his musical ability. His perfect pitch allows him to reproduce
a melody when he has only heard it once. But he is also gifted in his uprightcharacter and humanity, which attract the support and friendship of Mr. andMrs. Konishi, who own the screw factory, Mr. Sawaguchi (commonly known
as Joe), who directs music for the school festival concert, and Mrs. Yugawara,
the school counselor. (Sakuma)

読みもの
45

Sandwich Club

サンドイッチクラブ（Sandoicchi kurabu）| Text: Nagae, Yuko
| Ill. Konishi, Eiko | Iwanami Shoten | 2020 | 240pp | 20x14cm| ISBN 9784001160246 | Ages: 11+ | Sand, Friendship, Summer vacation, Cram school

46

While attending summer cram school to prepare for
middle school entrance exams, Tamako becomes
friends with Hikaru, a girl who attends a different
grade school who is very bright and attending cramschool on scholarship. Influenced by her late grandmother, Hikaru dreams of eliminating war by becoming the president of theUnited States.
One day, when Hikaru is having a sand sculpture competition in the parkwith Yoma from her school, she invites Tamako to join them. Hikaru nicknames Tamako “Tamago” (Egg), and Tamako nicknames Hikaru “Ham-chan”(using part of her last name, Hamura), and they hold practices to beat Yoma
in sand sculpting. They think it’s funny how they seem to have started aclub all by themselves, and their nicknames Ham and Egg lead them to callit Sandwich Club. They receive helpful advice from Mr. Shirabe, a sand artist
Yoma admires who even goes overseas to sculpt. He tells them how when
digging sand in various places, he has found bullets and even human bones,
which speak to wars and refugee crises—realities too often invisible on thesurface.
Hikaru, whose family is poor but who has big plans, urges Tamako to try
to become the self she wants to be. Mr. Shirabe says that every sparkling
grain of sand holds the memory of this planet’s birth. The different yet
beautiful grains symbolize the two girls of different personalities and backgrounds, who come together in an irreplaceable present. The conclusion ofthis novel is positive and inspiring. (Nogami)

47

Dad, Mom, and Me

父さんと、母さんと、ぼく（Tosan to, kasan to, boku）| Text:
Ochi, Noriko | Ill. Nishizaka, Hiromi | Fukuinkan Shoten |2020 | 252pp | 20x14cm | ISBN 9784834085600 | Ages: 11+ |Parallel world, Fisherman, Fantasy

This is the fifth and final book in the series Rabintotto, the Fisherboy of the Sky. The setting is a parallelworld called Tonkana, where fish fly through thesky, birds swim in the earth, and the inhabitants ofthe surface are not humans, but mysterious people.
The main character is a fisherman’s son named Rabintotto, who hails froma long-eared clan and is apprenticing to become a fisherman himself one
day. He is afraid of heights, however, and he runs away from his master. He
decides to support himself by catching sardines, which move low in the sky
only at dawn.
The first four volumes of this series are The Tuna’s Dandelion Fishing,
Happy are the Prepared, Riddle of the Red Moon, and A Village of Forest
Thieves. Throughout the series, Rabintotto goes through mishaps and surprise encounters on an unending, unchosen journey of adventures.
In this fifth volume, as Rabintotto is journeying toward his home, he hears
that many have been threatened by spinetail devil rays, and he hurries tothe scene: Tsukimi (Moon Viewing) Mountain. Rabintotto saves the spinetaildevil ray child that caused the disturbance, and then he hears that long ago
on this mountain, there was a history of long-eared tribes fighting. He also
learns that his fear of heights was not innate, and that there has been a great
gulf between his mother’s family and his father. Upon visiting his parents’relatives, he is told that he can stay, but having learned his roots and history,
Rabintotto vows to become a proper fisherman after all and sets out on a
new journey.
This fantasy is fun to read, with illustrations that aptly convey Rabintotto’s
world. (Sakuma)

The Jirijiri Mobile Library

じりじりの移動図書館（Jirijiri no ido toshokan）| Text:
Hiroshima, Reiko/ Mahara, Mito/ Hamano, Kyoko/ Kudo,
Junko and Sugano, Yukimushi | Ill. Kumaori, Jun | Kodansha| 2020 | 224pp | 20x14cm | ISBN 9784065202838 | Ages: 11+| Library, Fantasy

Five authors who debuted in 2006 challenged eachother to write about a mobile library that travels
through time and space. (Jirijiri is the sound it makes
when it departs.)
In the story “This Book Continues After the Mist,” Kenta transports to adifferent world. Here, books are seen as the devil’s tools, and book hunters go house-to-house seizing books to burn. The mobile library offers toprotect people’s beloved books.
In “Find Yanme, Save the Legend,” Kosei is a boy living on an island near
Okinawa, who discovers the library’s efforts to save endangered books andlegends. Kosei and his sister Nanami join in, finding an old tale faintly carved
on a seaside boulder. This tale turns out to have a connection to Yanme (Older
Brother in local dialect), sought obsessively by their great-grandfather.
In “The Sketchbook Left Behind,” Fumika is a girl who gets transported
to 1943. She meets a nineteen-year-old boy about to depart for the war,
who adores art. When Fumika returns to the present, she learns that the boy
became a painter after the war.
In “AI Utopia,” Hiroto travels in the library to a future in which robots rulehumans and paper books have been banned.
In “Even if the Siren Sounds,” Ayu meets two young men from anotherdimension, who are being pursued because they wrote novels; she shelterswith them in the library. Ayu tells the youths about her difficulties with her
stepfather, and she realizes that reading and the library are ways she canescape her discontent.
Every work in this collection explores the meaning of reading and thefreedom of thought—all through experiences traveling in the Minerva
library. (Doi)48

Adventure from the Library

図書館からの冒険（Toshokan kara no boken）| Text/Ill.
Okada, Jun | Kaiseisha | 2019 | 304pp | 22x16cm | ISBN
9784035405702 | Ages: 11+ | Fantasy, Adventure, Dragon

Wataru attends sixth grade at Shibanozaki Elementary School, which is on the verge of being closed.
He spends a night holed up in the school librarytrying to make a plan. When a girl his age named
Saki arrives from another world, she takes him backwith her. Her world turns out to be Shibanozaki Island—a place Wataru had
thought his great-uncle Keijiro made up for a story. Saki takes Wataru to
the island’s eastern estate, where they find Goda, a man who can become abadger; Mari, a woman who can become an otter; and Baku, the gardener.
Goda says that they once grew a medicinal plant on the island that earnedlots of money, but they learned that it had a bad effect on humans, and sothey threw all the plants and the soil they grew in into the river. Then an
earthquake and a massive storm occurred, and many people fled. Since thattime, black-ish figures that can take the shape of people or animals have appeared, and the rivers and lakes have dried up.
Wataru shares a story that Keijiro once told him, about how an island
woman named Mirei is the dragon who protects the island’s water. Everyone
goes to the island’s western estate, expecting to find Mirei, but she is gone.
They realize that the black-ish figures are actually people from the island,and Mirei is leading them. Working with people from the western estate,
Wataru and Saki get the black-ish beings to an underground lake and restore
their humanity.
Mysterious happenings occur one after the next, and it’s fascinating towatch Wataru and Saki solve them. This island’s crisis is allegorical, causing
readers to consider our modern society. (Doi)

13

49

Abdallah Next Doorとなりのアブダラくん（Tonari no Abudara-kun）| Text: Kurokawa, Yuko | Ill. Miyao, Kazutaka | Kodansha | 2019 | 208pp| 20x14cm | ISBN 9784065175743 | Ages: 11+ | Friendship,
Immigration, Islam

50

夏休みに、ぼくが 図書館で見つけたもの（Natsuyasumi ni,
boku ga toshokan de mitsuketa mono）| Text: Hamano,
Kyoko | Ill. Morikawa, Izumi | Akane Shobo | 2019 | 192pp| 21x16cm | ISBN 9784251044372 | Ages: 11+ | Books,
Summer vacation, Book reports

Haru is 12 when Abdo, a boy from Pakistan, transfers
into his class. Abdo introduces himself as “Abracadabra Abdallah,” so everyone calls him Abdallah.
The teacher asks Haru to look after the new arrival,
so Haru goes to Abdo’s house every day to ask him
to hang out, and he supports him as best he can at school. Abdo never says
thank you, however, which bothers Haru. When he conveys this via Japanese
language assistant Ms. Denya, Abdo responds, “If I say thanks, it’s like we’re
not friends!” Haru gets a shock at how his and Abdo’s thinking differ. Ms.
Denya is an active knitter, however, and Haru, who secretly enjoys knitting,feels drawn to her.
On a field trip, the destination is changed suddenly to a Buddhist temple,
and Abdo, a Muslim, abruptly leaves. Haru’s classmate says that this is selfish
of him, so Haru does not go after Abdo. He and Abdo struggle to connect
after that, but when a girl in Haru’s younger sister’s class rips the hijab offof Abdo’s younger sister, Haru consults Ms. Denya and tries to think of ways
to help more people learn about the new family. He also reveals his love ofknitting.
Told from Haru’s perspective, this novel thoughtfully conveys the challenges of accepting someone from another culture. It also shows how beingtrue to oneself matters to everyone. (Doi)51

My Diagonal Stitch:

The Boy Who Loves Crafts Can't Say So

ぼくのまつり縫い（Boku no matsuri nui）| Text: Kobe,
Haruma | Ill. Ida, Chiaki | Kaiseisha | 2019 | 168pp | 19x13cm| ISBN 9784036491209 | Ages: 11+ | Needlework, Club activity, Friendship, Gender

At the beginning of junior high, Yuto Hariyama
moves in from another school district and knows
no one in his class. He joins the soccer team at theinvitation of the first person to speak to him, but hehas never been into sports and doesn’t get very far. He even gets injured atpractice so has to take a break.
One day while mending his frayed uniform trousers after class, he attracts the attention of his classmate Rika Itoi, who begs him for “help” anddrags him to the school sewing room on the second floor of another building. There, Itoi and the president of the sewing club are frantically working
on costumes for the drama club. They need more hands to help. They ask
Yuto to assist with the staggered diagonal topstitching on some costumes;
Yuto has done handicrafts since he was little and enjoys embroidery, so hefinishes quickly. Then, he helps the awkward Itoi sew on some buttons. His
finishes quickly earn praise from the club president. After that, he makessome more visits to the sewing room and gets invited to join the club, but hestays on the fence. Yuto was teased as a preschooler for liking pink and had
been hiding the fact that he enjoys crafts.
Helped along by Momo, an androgynous Gothic Lolita he meets at thecraft shop when buying fabric scraps—and by Itoi and the club president—
Yuto finally decides that he likes what he likes, and he joins the sewing clubwith its three other members, all female. Through showing Yuto’s internal
discord, when his embarrassment keeps him from saying he likes crafts, thisstory refreshingly breaks down gender stereotypes and offers readers a fun
school club story. Widely popular with a sequel on the way. (Nogami)

14

What I Found at the Library
During Summer Vacation

A fifth-grader named Tatsuki loves books and has
been going to the library by his house his entire
life. Because he reads so much, he is good at recommending books to people. Having read even more of the library’s holdings than the sixth graders in the upper-elementary reading club, he actuallyknows the juvenile inventory.
Tatsuki is asked by Ayu, a girl in his class who hasn’t said much to him
before, to find a book her mother read to her when she was five. Ayu knows
neither the title nor the author, just that the book originated overseas andfeatures an orphan. Tatsuki searches hard based on these hints, but comesup empty at first.
Then, one day during summer vacation, Tatsuki and Ayu see their classmate Reo, who likes soccer, looking bored at the library. At Ayu’s urging,
Tatsuki picks out a book that Reo might like for the assigned summer bookreport.
With the library and books as connection points, the three students, who
had not spent much time together before, become close. They begin toshare their personal struggles and family circumstances. Their book searches
introduce how to use the library and reveal the role and importance oflibraries—and the thrill and wonder of finding the right book.
Why is Ayu searching now for a book that her mother read to her at age
five? The reason grows clear at the end, when the book is found in a comforting, invigorating conclusion. During summer when students cannot meetat school, the library sets the stage for invaluable experiences that echostrongly in the heart. (Nogami)

52

Another Turn in the Road

もうひとつの曲がり角（Mo hitotsu no magari kado）| Text:
Iwase, Joko | Ill. Sakai, Komako | Kodansha | 2019 | 256pp |20x14cm | ISBN 9784065168806 | Ages: 11+ | Cram school,
School, Time (time slip), Path, Reading aloudTomo is a fifth-grader who moves over spring breakbecause her parents have bought an old house. She
starts the school year at a new school, and she begrudgingly attends cram school for English conversation, since her mother says it will help her future.
Her brother, a new middle schooler who has joined the baseball team, getsrebuked by their mother for poor test grades. He tells Tomo, “At school,
students are ranked and forced to compete. I hate it, but there’s no way out.”
One day when cram school is closed, Tomo walks down a street she has
never taken and sees a house with an old sign for a café on the front. In theyard, an old woman is reading something aloud. Mystified, Tomo watches fora moment and finds herself invited in and treated to some recitations. The
next week, she decides to skip cram school and go listen some more, but
before she reaches the house she encounters a strange girl who performs
cartwheels on top of a wall. Tomo thought she had taken the same street
and turned at the same T junction, but she gots lost in a different flow oftime. She explores the connections between the girl and the old woman.
Tomo ends up quitting the English conversation school, and her brotherquits baseball even though he just bought new gear. Their parents do notunderstand that the things they have been doing for their children’s future
are in fact burdens for them. Tomo, while uncertain, chooses the turns she
will take for her future herself, and when she tells her parents, they reluctantly agree. It is impressive and inspiring to watch this fifth grader think
hard and act decisively. (Nogami)

読みもの
53

Red Hair Certificate

赤毛証明（Akage shomei）| Text: Mitsuoka, Mari | Kumon
Shuppan | 2020 | 144pp | 20x14cm | ISBN 9784774330730 |Ages: 12+ | School rules, Appearance, Disability

54

In Japan, school rules forbid junior high school students from dyeing their hair; everyone’s hair shouldbe black. Meg, however, was born with a natural red
tint. The story follows her struggle against the school
rules which require her to provide a certificate proving that her hair is naturally red.
Every morning, Meg has to show the teacher at the school gate her
certificate. She begins to wonder if she is abnormal and even what the word
“normal” means. Her childhood friend Hiro, who is a year older than her, ismissing his lower limbs and plays wheelchair basketball. Meg talks with him
about what it means to be normal.
Hiro’s friend Mamo likes Sawa, Meg’s friend, but Sawa has a crush on
Hiro. In a fit of jealousy, Mamo punctures Hiro’s wheelchair tires. Although
Meg is mad at Mamo, she also realizes that she herself envies Sawa. Troubled by these conflicting emotions, Meg tries to understand her dilemma
through the famous short story, Rashomon, by the renowned Japanese
author Ryunosuke Akutagawa. The protagonist, a lowly servant who has justbeen fired and is contemplating robbery in order to survive, struggles withhis conscience. Meg comes to accept that such moral dilemmas are part ofbeing human and strives to stay true to herself.
This is a convincing and sensitive portrayal of one girl’s struggle against
irrational rules. Through Meg, who looks different, Hiro, who lives with adisability, and Sawa, who has been raised by a single mother, the book also
explores the diverse possibilities of “being oneself”. (Doi)

55

Even

イーブン（Iibun）| Text: Murakami, Shiiko | Ill. Mamefuku | Shogakukan | 2020 | 208pp | 19x14cm | ISBN
9784092893016 | Ages: 12+ | Divorce, Food truck, Abuse,
Domestic violenceTwelve-year old Miori’s parents divorced becauseof her father’s abuse, and Miori now lives with hermother, a school counselor. Miori has stopped goingto school because of difficulties getting along withher friends. One day, she meets Takao, a man whoruns a curry food truck, and his assistant, Tom, a high school student who,
like Miori, is not going to school. When she begins helping Takao with his
food truck, she learns that Tom’s mother not only neglected him as a childbut used him to commit crimes and that he now lives with Takao, who has
become his guardian. Meanwhile, Miori is constantly thinking about her
parents’ divorce. Through conversations with her mother and father, shestarts to see the complexity of human relationships. She also gains many
insights through talking with Tom, with whom she is falling in love. During
this process, she comes to realize that being on an equal or even footing is
the key to good relationships, whether between parent and child, man andwoman, or a couple, and begins exploring how to make such relationships
possible.
One day, Miori’s father attends a meeting hosted by Miori’s mother about
women’s rights. There he confides that he suffered abuse from his own
parents and struck out both physically and verbally because he had trouble
expressing himself in words. Gradually, Miori and Tom find the next step they
can take.
Miori’s story gives us hope, demonstrating that it’s possible to find away forward by sharing our weaknesses and speaking honestly about our
shortcomings. The author, who was a victim of abuse herself, helps readers
to explore this serious issue. (Sakuma)

Ad-Live

アドリブ（Adoribu）| Text: Sato, Madoka | Ill. Shimazaki,
Joze | Asunaro Shobo | 2019 | 240pp | 20x14cm | ISBN
9784751529423 | Ages: 12+ | Italy, Flute, MusicYuji, a Japanese boy, was born and raised in Italy. At
the age of ten, he attends a concert performed by
students from a national conservatory in a cathedral
in Florence. This inspires in him the desire to playthe flute. Despite his lack of experience, he applies
for the conservatory’s entrance exam and is one of three people selectedfrom twenty-seven applicants. He begins studying under Professor Santini.
Yuji lives with his mother who works as a waitress at a Japanese restaurant.
His mother buys him a flute even though she is struggling financially. Yuji
progresses from his first lesson through each test, passing from the preparatory level to become a first-year student in the regular program. From there,
the story depicts Yuji’s struggle to balance his academic studies with hismusic, along with such aspects of his daily life as his lessons, his friendships,
his encounter with a flutist, and his application for a scholarship. When Yuji
is preparing for his fifth-year exam, his teacher asks him, “Who do you want
to play music for?” Yuji begins to wonder why he wants to play the flute,
whether he wishes to become a professional flutist, and whether he even has
the ability to do so. During summer music camp, he experiences the joy ofinterpreting music, which helps him to surmount this obstacle. He abandons
the idea of buying a silver flute, but through the help of his mother andthose around him, he is able to obtain one after all and auditions for the Italian Young Orchestra.
The book begins just before Yuji is to take his exam to enter the fifth yearof the music course, then returns to Yuji at the age of ten and fills in theyears between. The many challenges that Yuji faces, and the way in which hesurmounts each one, make this a dramatic story. Through it, the reader cangrasp both the joy and the agony of pursuing one’s dreams, the magical lureof music, and the impact of the people we meet on our lives. (Doi)56

Saku and Aki

朔と新（Saku to Aki）| Text: Ito, Miku | Ill. Kato, Kensuke |Kodansha | 2020 | 288pp | 20x14cm | ISBN 9784065175521 |Ages: 12+ | Visual impairment, Marathon, Brothers

Saku, 18, lost his eyesight in a bus accident. Home forthe first time in a year from his dormitory at a schoolfor the blind, he finds that his brother, 15-year-old
Aki, blames himself for the accident and is punishinghimself by refusing to run track, which he once enjoyed. Saku decides to run long-distance and ask Aki to be his guide runner.
Saku had been poor at sports, but as he runs daily, he gradually improves.
Hearing encouraging words from Aki and meeting people in a marathon
training group, he eventually has to admit he likes running.
One day, Aki runs too fast in practice and Saku falls and gets injured. Aki
does not want to hurt Saku anymore, so he insists he will never be his guideagain. Saku tells him about the struggles he has faced since the accident,
and about how running with Aki has helped him make many discoveries. At
length, Aki agrees to guide Saku in a marathon.
The day of the marathon, Saku confesses that he actually began runningand had Aki be his guide because he wanted to see Aki suffer. Aki replies
that even if that that’s true, they have both changed while running together.
Aki also says that Saku has shown him things he had lost sight of.
Reading Saku’s and Aki’s alternating perspectives, readers share both
brothers’ feelings and are forced to think hard about families and aboutsight. Azusa, Saku’s girlfriend since before the accident, and Saku and Aki’s
mother, who herself blamed Aki for the accident, are also portrayed. The
whole work evokes the hardships and joys of getting along with other people. (Doi)

15

57

The Non-Slip Alliance

スベらない同盟（Suberanai domei）| Text: Nikaido, Ao |Ill. Kitamura, Minami | Kodansha | 2019 | 256pp | 20x14cm| ISBN 9784065171363 | Ages: 13+ | Friendship, Bullying,
Manzai comedy, Gender58

Leo is a second-year junior high student who learns
that Keiichi, who sits directly ahead when the newterm begins, is being bullied by their classmate
Hosoki. Their homeroom teacher Mr. Saito, also theadvisor for the pop music club Leo is part of, asks Leo
to keep an eye on Keiichi.
Leo invites Keichi to the pop music club, but Keichi prefers to read. When
Leo borrows a book from Keiichi and discovers some of Keichi’s fan fiction
inside, the talent in the work is clear. Leo ends up forming a manzai comedy
duo with Keichi to transform him from bullied to popular; they will perform
a script by Keichi at the school’s culture festival. When they begin to practiceat Leo’s insistence, they imitate professional duos and perform for small
groups, but their routine flops. Even though they’re discouraged, they aim
for the festival with their original script.
As they practice, they grow more and more open with each other. Then,
during summer vacation, they are on an outing when Keichi gets beaten
up by Hosoki. Leo tongue-lashes Hosoki, and when the next school term
begins, Hosoki takes revenge by bullying Leo. Keiichi also learns that Leo approached him because of the teacher and refuses to perform at the festival.
Leo considers how she has misrepresented the truth and mocked people.
She changes from the track suit she always wears into a feminine yukata, andshe confesses her truth and performs Keiichi’s sketch at the culture festival.
The difficulties of friendship, the various complexes that we all juggleat puberty, and the self-consciousness of adolescence come to life in the
humorous dialogue in this book. (Doi)59

16

Beyond the Butterfly's Flutter

蝶の羽ばたき、その先へ（Cho no habataki sono saki e）|
Text: Morino, Komichi | Ill. Bannai, Taku | Komine Shoten |2019 | 160pp | 20x14cm | ISBN 9784338287210 | Ages: 13+ |Hearing impairment, Sign language, Single-parent family

Yui lives with her mother. The first day of her second
year of junior high, in April, she suddenly experiences
ear-ringing and that notices she cannot hear well outof one ear. She does not want to make her motherworry, however, so she does not tell her right away.
In May, she goes to the doctor, but the ringing does not stop. Yui hesitates
to tell her close friend Maki. In July, Yui learns from the doctor that it will bedifficult to restore her hearing. When she grows depressed, a boy in her classnamed Ryosuke worries for her and takes her to the park. Yui asks him if he
has ever heard the sound of a butterfly’s wings, which is apparently the outer
limit of what healthy human ears can hear. But Yui cannot seem to tell him
about her hearing loss.
After summer break, Yui goes to the park again when feeling down, andshe notices some people who are conversing animatedly in sign language.
Then she visits a sign language circle and meets Kyoko, who has sufferedsudden deafness and cannot hear at all. Hearing about Kyoko’s experience,
Yui is able to put her own into perspective. She continues to attend the circle.
In November, Yui attends a lecture about a pamphlet regarding how deaf
people should be treated in hospitals. Yui offers to distribute the pamphlet
at a sign-language rakugo comedy event. In December, when arranging ameeting with other hearing-impaired people about pamphlet distribution,
Yui is shocked to be treated with discrimination when she books the room.
She begins to think about her own internalized prejudices, and she finallytells her friend Maki about her hearing loss. She invites her classmates to therakugo event, and on the day of the event, she greets them with both voice
and sign language.
From April through December, the chronology of Yui’s medical treatments
and the evolution in her feelings are sensitively portrayed. The process of
growing able to face her deafness is evoked in a way that readers will findrelatable. (Doi)Little Bird of the Apartment Block

団地のコトリ（Danchi no kotori）| Text: Yatsuka, Sumiko |Ill. Nakamura, Yukihiro | Poplar | 2020 | 208pp | 20x13cm |ISBN 9784591167243 | Ages: 13+ | Missing child, Elderly living
alone, Compassion

Mitsuki is a junior high student living with her motherin a large apartment complex. Hina is an 11-year-old
being hidden from authorities with her mother, by asingle elderly man living one floor below. This novel
brings together Mitsuki and Hina’s two stories.
Hina’s mother had been drifting around the country, taking her daughterwith her to various jobs and not sending her to school. After Hina’s mothercollapsed at a train station and got taken away by ambulance, Hina was put
in an institution and began to attend school. But after her mother collapsed
again in a park and was taken in by the elderly man, Mr. Shibata, her mothernabbed Hina from the institution and brought her into hiding with her.
One day, Mr. Shibata suffers a subarachnoid hemorrhage while at thesupermarket, loses consciousness, and is taken to hospital. Stuck in his
apartment and unable to leave, Hina and her mother run out of food. Hina,
reduced to skin and bones, appears in front of Mitsuki and says, “Help.” Hina
had known about Mitsuki and had even nicknamed her Kotori-chan (LittleBird), because Mitsuki keeps a parakeet.
Hina’s mother coughs up blood and dies after being taken to hospital.
Hina returns to the institution. Mitsuki now thinks of Hina as a younger sister,
but at the same time, she is scared by the darkness she sees in Hina’s eyes.
Knowing that helping Hina will not be simple, Mitsuki’s mother nonethelessagrees to foster her during vacations, and Mr. Shibata offers financial support.
This YA novel takes up issues lately pressing in Japan, as elsewhere: missing children and the isolated elderly. With realistic episodes, it turns our gaze
toward people showing compassion to other people. It contains a number ofheavy scenes, but the talking parakeet lends a saving humor. (Sakuma)

60

Watashigoto: 14 Years Old in Hiroshima

ワタシゴト（Watashigoto）| Text: Nakazawa, Shoko | Ill.
Sasameya, Yuki | Chobunsha | 2020 | 128pp | 20x14cm |ISBN 9784811327273 | Ages: 13+ | School trip, Atomic bomb
museumThis is a collection of five stories about 14-year-olds
on a school trip to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial
Museum.
In “Lunchbox,” Shunsuke’s mother never makes
him a lunch, and Rinko’s makes her ostentatious
ones. In the museum, they see a lunch box charred black when the atomic
bomb fell, and they talk. Shunsuke learns Rinko feels uncomfortable with thelunches made by her stepmother.
In “Dress,” a girl named Misaki got injured before the trip and has comein a wheelchair. She views a dress in the museum. Bloodied and charred, thedress nonetheless makes her think of a dress her mother sewed her when
she was small, which she never wore.
In “Shoes,” honor student Yukito has a cheeky younger sister. Yuto
has come on the trip in some fancy shoes; at the museum, he sees somedestroyed shoes displayed with comments by the younger sister of the deceased.
In “Stone,” Kazuki keeps a rock collection. During studies before the trip,
he had experimented to learn how roof tiles would respond to the heat of
the atomic bomb. At the museum, he sees actual roof tiles from the blast.
In the final story, “I’m Sorry,” Akari was five years old when she got caught
in the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami and let go of her friend’shand. She is unable to enter the museum no matter how she tries. Outside
the museum, she meets an old woman who also feels sorry toward herfriend, who died in the atomic bombing.
The inside flap of the front cover explains that Watashigoto, the title ofthis collection, can mean the act of passing on a memory, or it can mean aperson’s own private matters. As one reads, one can clearly imagine students
with their private struggles going on this trip, encountering others’ memories, and making the atomic bomb a part of who they are. (Doi)読みもの / ノンフィクション

RecentNonfiction

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62

Sea Pill Bugs, Hill Pill Bugs

The Secrets of Crayfish

Children find pill bugs very approachable creatures. Not only can they be spotted easily froma child’s eye level, but they do not sting or biteand have no smell. Although their name includes
the word “bug”, they are not insects but rather
are related to shrimps and crabs. The author has
published several books on pill bugs, and this one
uses sharp, colorful photographs to introduce
pill bugs found on the seashore and in the hills,
as well as in the city. Pill bugs come in a varietyof colors and patterns: some are a stunning blue,
while others have panda-like black and white patterns. The author also introduces their role in theecosystem as nature’s “cleaners” who consume
dead bugs and insect feces. (Sakaguchi)This photographic picture book introduces theAmerican crayfish, an aquatic creature beloved
by children. The focus is from the child’s pointof view with pages that take a close look at suchbody parts as the large, front claws, the little claws
on the tips of the walking legs, the whiskers, andtail, as well as fold out spreads. The text, which is
written in a familiar conversational voice, explains
how each part works. Additional explanations
aimed at adults are included here and there tohelp in answering questions that are likely to arise
when reading the book with a child. The author
also explains that to protect the natural environment, American crayfish should not be released
into the wild once they have been pets because
they are a foreign species in Japan. (Sakaguchi)

うみのダンゴムシ やまのダンゴムシ 増補版（Umi no
dangomushi, yama no dangomushi）| Text/Photos: Minagoshi, Yosei | Iwasaki Shoten | 2020 | 36pp | 23x27cm| ISBN 9784265043767 | Ages: 3+ | Pill bug, Habitat,
Diversity, Scientific research

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64

Giant Airport

巨大空港（Kyodai kuko）| Text/Ill. Kamata, Ayumi| Fukuinkan Shoten | 2019 | 36pp | 23x31cm | ISBN
9784834084795 | Ages: 3+ | Airport, Job, Airplane, Cargo

This picture book follows a typical day at Japan’slargest airport, Narita International Airport.
Dynamic illustrations depict planes taking off andlanding, and travelers and airport staff, along with
their workplaces, are shown in fine detail. When
spreads are opened up, they measure 1.2 meters,
offering cross-sections of the airport building.
The book is full of clever devices, reflecting theauthor’s plentiful experience in producing books
on various passenger vehicles. The story follows amother and her daughter from their arrival at the
airport to departure, while at the same time showing us scenes that we normally never see because
they take place behind walls. Cargo shipping andpeople working night shift are introduced, andthe reader learns the charms of the airport andthe mechanisms and systems that keep it running.
(Sakaguchi)

ざりがにの ひみつ（Zarigani no himitsu）| Photos:
Takeda, Shinichi | Spv. Takeda, Masatsune | Hisakata
Child | 2020 | 32pp | 21x24cm | ISBN 9784865492040| Ages: 3+ | Crayfish, Aquatic creatures, Pet care, Foreign species

65

One Hundred

My Book of Pine Cones

Designcones, Pine trees, Seeds, Wildlife

100（Hyaku）| Text: Nakui, Naoko | Ill. Inoue, Sayuki| Fukuinkan Shoten | 2020 | 24pp | 21x23cm | ISBN
9784834085280 | Ages: 3+ | Numbers, Photography,

One block. Turn the page, and a hundred blocks
make a big castle. One goldfish in an aquarium.
Turn the page, and a school of a hundred fishswims around. A hundred erasers packed together looks like a handful, but scatter them andthey fill a two-page spread! For small children still
mainly counting numbers on their fingers, 100 can
be a hard concept to understand. Using bouncy
balls, acorns and other fun items, this photopicture book conveys “100” not through counting, but rather through the senses. The author,
a well-known book designer, collaborated withthe photographer for this project. No computer
graphics were used. With white backgrounds
and soft lighting setting off items, readers feel athome. They can enjoy the surprising page turns,
and they may want to play more with numbers
after reading! (Hiromatsu)

ぼくのマツボックリ図鑑（Boku no matsubokkuri zukan）| Text/Ill. Moriguchi, Mitsuru | Iwasaki Shoten | 2020 |36pp | 29x22cm | ISBN 9784265043750 | Ages: 3+ | Pine

This picture book introduces lots and lots ofpine cones, which children seem to love just likeacorns. The author has gathered pine cones ofmany types, shapes and sizes. Detailed illustrations show them from the top, from the sides, andeven on the inside where seeds can be found. We
learn that pine cones open “umbrellas” to scatter seed when the air is dry, and sometimes when
mountain wildfires generate heat. This is a shrewd
strategy to get seeds into the ground as quickly
as possible. The author not only helps us identify
pine cones we might find, but also asks (for example) how a pine cone curved like a fried shrimp
might present traces of an animal eating. Readers
enjoy intriguing finds in atypical shapes, and thefun of making discoveries in nearby nature. (Sakaguchi)

17

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67

Winter and Water Magic: Ice

Apple, Bit by Bit

Winter, VariationLife

ふゆとみずのまほう こおり（Fuyu to mizu no maho-kori）| Text/Photos: Katahira, Takashi | Poplar | 2019 | 36pp |21x26cm | ISBN 9784591164099 | Ages: 3+ | Ice, Water,

69

Strawberry

りんごだんだん（Ringo dandan）| Text/Photos: Ogawa,Tadahiro | Asunaro Shobo | 2020 | 36pp | 20x21cm |ISBN 9784751529614 | Ages: 3+ | Apple, Decay, Change,

Winter cold and water combine to create beautiful, mysterious shapes in this photo picture book.
All of the shapes were made naturally, but they
were not easy to find: the author has been photographing the world of snow and crystals for many
years. In his photos, ice melts into shapes likeflower petals, and gases from a lake bed create
foam that freezes into ice bubbles. Some ice sparkles like jewels. Others ice “grows” up from theground. Waterfalls freeze. Together, these images
offer detail, dynamism, and variation that boggles
the mind. How do these unusual ice formations,whose names themselves are rare, come to be?
Why does ice float in water? How do ponds freeze
over? The backmatter offers further information
about the properties of water. (Sakaguchi)

いちご（Ichigo）| Text/Ill. Arai, Maki | Shogakukan | 2020
| 32pp | 25x22cm | ISBN 9784097250524 | Ages: 3+ |Strawberries, Farming, Observation, Plants

A photo of a bright red apple appears with thetext “Smooth Apple.” The same apple changes
little by little over time, becoming wrinkly, swollen, soft, limp, and then bug-eaten. But is that theend? The author observed and photographed thesame apple for about a year to create this picture
book. Each photo has only brief words with no
explanations, but the idea that all living thingschange, ultimately becoming nourishment for
future life, comes across in the realistic photos.
(Sakuma)70

Not one of the three hundred strawberry seeds
depicted on the page looks the same. The book
begins with the riddle of why strawberries makelittle popping sounds when we eat them andfollows the strawberry-growing process. The
illustrations and text make it easy for children tounderstand the principle that plants flower, growfruit and make seeds to pass life on to the next
generation. The author has an excellent eye forobservation, depicting such details as the downy
fuzz on plant stems and the hairs on bee legs. A
richness of expression that can only be achieved
through illustrations as opposed to photos conveys the deep secrets of the familiar strawberry
plant. The author won a Golden Apple Award at
the 2017 Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava for her
work Tanpopo (Dandelion). (Sakaguchi)
71

I Thought So! Workplaces

Thread and Silk from Silkworms

Kyle's Piano: Sounds That Bring Kyle Joy

and-findSilk making, Lifedisability

やっぱりしごとば（Yappari shigotoba）| Text/Ill. Suzuki,
Noritake | Bronze Publishing | 2020 | 44pp | 30x23cm |ISBN 9784893096708 | Ages: 7+ | Work, Tools, Search-

An explorer, a glass blower, a culinary researcher.
This picture book introduces nine types of workand the related work environment. A paleontologist’s workplace, which fills a two-page spread,has equipment such as scaffolding and fishingline and bursts with a staff of fourteen people
who clean fossils, perform micro CT scans, anddo other specialized tasks. The paleontologist
works together with people from many fields, as
we see on the next page where a typical workflow
and related tools are described. The reader canconcretely envision what this professional does.
The illustrations in this book incorporate fun interactive features; readers can enjoy thinking about
the meaning of certain words and searching for
hidden ninjas and instructions. (Sakaguchi)

1868

お蚕さんから糸と綿と（Okaiko-san kara ito to wata to）| Text/Photos: Onishi, Nobuo | Alice-kan | 2020 | 52pp |26x20cm | ISBN 9784752009252 | Ages: 9+ | Silkworms,

This photographic picture book portrays anelderly couple engaged in sericulture: a laborintensive process which involves growing andtending mulberry trees, supplying silkworms
with mulberry leaves, collecting the cocoons, anddrying them just before the chrysalis turns intoa moth and breaks free. The cocoons are boiled
and then made into raw silk and floss silk by hand.
In the past, sericulture and silk reeling were amajor industry, but today it is very rare to see theprocess. Awe-inspiring photos convey the farmers’ expressions and the movement of their hands,
as well as the nature of the silkworms which,although addressed with the honorific of Okaikosan (Honorable Mr. Silkworm), are sacrificed tomake silk. The reader gains a realization that we
garb ourselves in the lives of countless creatures.
(Hiromatsu)

カイルのピアノ（Kairu no piano）| Text: Takayama, Ryo |Photos: Tominaga, Yasuhiro | 2019 | 144pp | 22x16cm |ISBN 9784265083183 | Ages: 9+ | Piano, Developmental

This book describes how the gifted pianist Kyle
Kihara (born 2001) discovered the piano andbegan composing, following his progression up
to his first solo recital at the age of eighteen. Kyle
was diagnosed with autism at the age of two. At
the age of six, he began playing piano. By fourth
grade, he had completed the study of mathematics up to the end of the grade nine curriculum.
He began to dream of becoming a pianist fromaround the fifth grade, despite having autismrelated hyper-sensitivity to noise. In junior highschool, he became sensitive to visual stimuli as
well, but he continued to grow under the tutelageof his piano teachers Akiko Kubota, who let him
play freely, and Masahiro Kawakami, who taught
him to play Nikolai Kapustin’s music accurately. His
story inspires us to keep looking for and developing the things we can do, rather than focusing on
eliminating the ones we can’t. (Doi)ノンフィクション
72

73

Science of Dinosaurs

The Taste of Home Crosses the Sea:

The author, a photojournalist, records herinterviews with seven people living in Japan as
refugees or asylum seekers, asking them why
they came and about their life now, while theycook their traditional cuisine. While serving theauthor coffee, Judi, a Kurd from Syria, shares how
he was targeted by police for participating in ademonstration and fled to Japan in 2012. Twoand a half years later, he sent for his family whowere living in a refugee camp in Iraq; he now
runs a café. Other speakers include people from
Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh, Cameroon, andCambodia, who have experienced torture in theirhome countries as well as discrimination in Japan.
Through their stories, the reader learns aboutsituations in other countries and also considers
Japan’s response. (Doi)76

さがす（Sagasu）| Text/Photos: Nagakura, Hiromi | Alice-kan | 2020 | 40pp | 26x20cm | ISBN 9784752009375 |Ages: 9+ | World, Happiness, Meaning in life

Photojournalist Nagakura has taken photos ofchildren the world over while asking, “Why were
humans born?” “Where do we belong?” “What is
the meaning in living?” He has asked these questions in places where bullets fly, such as Afghanistan and Kosovo; in a refugee camp in El Salvador;
in Greenland with its extreme cold; and on the
Arabian Peninsula with its scorching heat. He has
met all kinds of people living in different ways incontrasting environments. Now, Nagakura says,
what he was searching for is in his own hands.
This picture book invites us to experience touching photos and text and to think together with theauthor. (Sakuma)

こども文様じてん（Kodomo monyo jiten）| Text: Shimonaka, Nabo | Heibonsha | 2020 | 48pp | 29x23cm | ISBN
9784582407495 | Ages: 9+ | Paper cutting, Design, Family
crest, Tradition

故郷の味は海をこえて（Kokyo no aji wa umi o koete）| Text/Photos: Yasuda, Natsuki | Poplar | 2019 | 232pp| 20x14cm | ISBN 9784591164204 | Ages: 9+ | Refugee,
CuisineBased on the latest information, the author, apaleontologist explains dinosaurs to children in anaccessible way. The book begins with the historyof the planet Earth and dinosaurs, then describes
what Tyrannosaurus, a dinosaur popular withchildren, were like, what fossils can tell us about
confrontations between Tyrannosaurus and otherdinosaurs such as Triceratops, and what has been
discovered through the most recent paleontological research. The author explores the relationshipbetween birds and dinosaurs, comparing them,and also the reasons for the extinction of dinosaurs. One chapter is devoted to Dr. Manabe’s
answers to questions he is frequently asked at
events and lectures, such as how paleontology
can be useful. The book is well-designed for children with illustrations and photos on every page
to draw the eye and excite curiosity. (Sakuma)

SearchA Child’s Dictionary of Monyo Designs

Living in Japan as a Refugee

恐竜学（Kyoryu gaku）| Text: Manabe, Makoto | Gakken| 2020 | 200pp | 19x13cm | ISBN 9784052051852 | Ages:
9+ | Dinosaurs, Fossils, Extinction, Earth

75

74

Traditional design motifs that appear on kimono, furniture, and dishes in Japan are calledmonyo. This book divides key monyo into three
categories—nature, living creatures, people’s
lives—and introduces their names, histories, andsymbolic meanings and uses. Warriors used amonyo for “good fortune in battle” as an insignia;
Edo townspeople in the 17th and 18th centuries
created monyo to look chic and smart. Monyothat incorporate symbols for good harvest, safe
childbirth, prosperity, and long life convey deepseated wishes still cherished today. The back of thisbook has patterns for all 72 of the monyo listed.
When copied and cut using folded paper, they turninto beautiful shapes from Japan. A book that also
supports a making experience. Sequel to A Child’sBook of Monyo Designs. (Sakaguchi)
77

Forest of the Blakiston's Fish Owl

One Year in the Rice Paddy

Birds, Wildlife, Gods, Environment

tures, Natural environment, Encyclopedia, Agriculture

しまふくろうの森（Shimafukuro no mori）| Text/Photos: Maekawa, Takayuki | Akane Shobo | 2020 | 48pp
| 27x22cm | ISBN 9784251099310 | Ages: 9+ | Forest,

In the darkness, an owl spreads both wings wideand stares straight ahead with piercing eyes. The
symmetrical, striking photo on this book’s coverleaves an instant impression. The Blakiston’s Fish
Owl used to live throughout Hokkaido, the northernmost part of Japan, but since development
dramatically reduced the amount of forest and thenumber of large, old-growth trees with cavities,
where the owls nest, they have been driven nearly
to extinction, with less than 100 alive at one point.
The indigenous Ainu people revere them as godsof the forest. This book explores the owls’ habitatand growth, beginning at chick stage, using rare
photographs and with Hokkaido’s rich nature andcontrasting seasons in the background. Thesemajestic gods of the forest, facing extinction,
seem to see right through humans’ folly in harming the environment with their penetrating gaze.
(Nogami)

田んぼの1年（Tanbo no ichinen）| Text/Ill. Senaga,
Takeshi | Kaiseisha | 2019 | 64pp | 27x25cm | ISBN
9784039712400 | Ages: 9+ | Rice farming, Living crea-This book shows a year in the life of a rice paddy,
also portraying seasonal changes in the satoyama(cultivated mountain foothill area) that surrounds
it. While carefully introducing the process of rice
farming, this book brings to life the creatures
who dwell in the paddy, with detailed illustrations
so skilled that they almost overwhelm. Besides
aerial views of the satoyama through the four
seasons, this book offers close-ups of wildlife
living in the paddy, grasslands, water, and soil, as
well as of insects and birds flying through the air.
The colored-pencil renderings are realistic andprecise, introducing more than 280 species. The
backmatter includes further details indexed by
page. It is sad to think that residential development and pesticide use have made areas like thisrare for nearly the past half-century. (Nogami)

19

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79

What's the Difference
between Octopus and Squid?

Giant Book of Antarctic Fish

Octopus and squid appear often on Japanesetables. Both are cephalopods (like heads on legs!)
with soft bodies, but how are they different?
This picture book compares them from several
angles. From differences that we can see with oureyes (number of legs) to differences in how they
catch prey and release ink, where they live, how
they protect themselves from their enemies, how
they change color, how they parent, and even
how their babies survive, we get the full story inphotos, illustrations, and text. Did you know thatsome squid can put their long arms in pockets? Orthat an octopus can memorize routes and not get
lost? Did you know that the squid and the octopus
both have multiple hearts, big and small? Many
surprising facts fill this book. (Sakuma)

The temperature of Antarctic seawater is -2
degrees Celsius, the coldest in the world. Most
fish would freeze in an instant at this temperature,
but there are fish that can only be found here.
This book introduces 91 Antarctic fish, providing
for each a common name, scientific name, typicalbody length, chief characteristics, and a detailed
illustration. Some fish are shown actual-size. Unlike tropical fish, Antarctic fish have subtle coloring, and unlike many fish we are accustomed to,they do not have a swim bladder. There are evenfish with colorless blood! Such characteristics are
the evolutionary result of living near the ocean
floor, trying to improve blood flow, and otherwise
trying to survive a harsh environment. Viewing
the strange world of Antarctic fish and discovering mechanisms of evolution makes reading thisbook a discovery-filled experience. (Sakaguchi)

81

Enclopedia of Insect Signs
and Works

南極のさかな大図鑑（Nankyoku no sakana daizukan）| Text: Iwami, Tetsuo | Ill. Hirono, Ken-ichi | Fukuinkan
Shoten | 2020 | 52pp | 26x20cm | ISBN 9784834085587 |Ages: 9+ | Fish, Antarctica, Deep-sea fish, Habitat

タコとイカは どうちがう？（Tako to ika wa do chigau?）| Text: Ikeda, Natsumi | Photos: Minemizu, Ryo | Spv.
Sugimoto, Chikatoshi | Poplar | 2020 | 32pp | 22x29cm |ISBN 9784591163504 | Ages: 9+ | Octopus, Squid, Ocean

82

虫のしわざ図鑑（Mushi no shiwaza zukan）| Text/Photos: Shinkai, Takashi | Shonen Shashin Shimbunsha |2020 | 160pp | 21x19cm | ISBN 9784879816924 | Ages:
9+ | Insects, Leaves, Eggs, Dung

Have insects left any chew marks on leaves,branches, or fruit near you? Have you seen eggs,
nests, or galls? This book divides common signsof insect activity into sixteen fun types, such as“chew-through,” “see-through,” “wrap-wrap,”“tent,” and more, and presents the activity inphotos and text. The book is made so that, forexample, if children find a leaf with one of the designs shown, they can compare it to the book andfind out which insect was at work. Objects suchas eggs, dung, husks, spiderwebs, and cocoons
are also introduced in column-like format. An
encylopedia-picture book with a fresh approach,created by a specialist in insect photography.
(Sakuma)83

Yato Home

There Was a Country Called Ryukyu

Our Stink Bug Book

banization, Sixteen arhats| ISBN 9784834085495 | Ages: 9+ | History, Okinawa,
Diplomacy, World Heritage

9784834085525 | Ages: 9+ | Stink bug, Encyclopedia,

やとのいえ（Yato no ie）| Text/Ill. Yatsuo, Keiji | Spv.
Senni, Kei | Kaiseisha | 2020 | 40pp | 22x31cm | ISBN
9784034379004 | Ages: 9+ | Home, Development, Ur-

This picture book portrays 150 years in the life of a
farmhouse in a yato area, with gently sloping hills
and valleys. The book is narrated by stone statuesof the sixteen arhats (disciples of the historical
Buddha) that stand nearby. The farmhouse withthatched roof is first surrounded by rice paddies,
fields, and forests; later, it becomes enclosed by amonorail, department store, and condominiums
and apartment buildings. It is given a tiled roof.
Planting and threshing processes, children’s play,
festivals, weddings, funerals, and development are
all depicted in detail. Until a certain period, wild
birds and animals also visit the stone statues. The
backmatter contains detailed explanations, including about the Tama Hills in southwest Tokyo/
northeast Kanagawa, which served as the modelfor this book. (Sakuma)

2080

琉球という国があった（Ryukyu to iu kuni ga atta）| Text:
Uezato, Takashi | Photos: Tomiyama, Yoshinori | Ils. Ichinoseki, Kei | Fukuinkan Shoten | 2020 | 44pp | 26x20cm

Today, Okinawa is one of Japan’s 47 prefectures.
Until 140 years ago, however, it was the independent Kingdom of Ryukyu. Many people do
not realize this, even in today’s Japan. This bookuses photographs and illustrations to portray theWorld Heritage-registered sites and history of
the kingdom. Comprised of many islands, it had
limited land area but featured freedom of movement over a wide span of ocean. The Ryukyuans
engaged in trade with Japan, southeast Asia, andChina, enjoying a prosperous relationship with theMing dynasty (1368-1644). Incorporating many
cultures and engaging in diplomacy, the Kingdom
of Ryukyu also nurtured its own culture. This bookfirst came out in 2012 in a monthly series. After afire destroyed historic Shuri Castle in fall 2019, it
was reissued as a stand-alone title. (Hiromatsu)

わたしたちのカメムシずかん（Watashitachi no kamemushi zukan）| Text: Suzuki, Kaika | Ill. Hata, Koshiro| Fukuinkan Shoten | 2020 | 44pp | 26x20cm | ISBN
Observation

Stink bugs (shield bugs) are often seen as smelly
pests, but in the town of Kuzumaki in northern
Iwate prefecture, children got excited about themand wanted to know more. They gathered specimens of some 35 types over a year’s time, andthey created an encyclopedia. Now they think thestink bugs are great! This picture book uses enjoyable illustrations and easy-to-understand text totell us how the students’ project came about. The
book also offers basic information about stinkbugs, why they give off odors, and why they form
groups. The backmatter offers space for readers
to begin their own encyclopedias. (Sakuma)ノンフィクション
84

85

I Want to Meet an Orangutan

Kanji's War

オランウータンに会いたい（Oranutan ni aitai）| Text:
Kuze, Noko | Ill. Akikusa, Ai | Akane Shobo | 2020 |
188pp | 22x16cm | ISBN 9784251073105 | Ages: 9+ |Orangutan, Borneo, Jungle, Endangered species

Secrets in Wild Animals' Droppings
先生、ウンチとれました（Sensei, unchi toremashita）|
Text: Ushida, Kazunari | Ill. Nakajima, Ryoji | Saela Shobo| 2019 | 162pp | 20x14cm | ISBN 9784378039206 | Ages:
11+ | Wildlife, Intestinal bacteria, Fieldwork, Scientificresearch

The author of this book studies wild animals’
droppings. By analyzing the intestinal bacteria
found within, he hopes to protect endangered
species. This research requires fresh poo. In African forests, using his sense of smell and measuring specimens’ temperature with a thermometer,
he gathers the newest poo possible. To encourage
its bacteria to multiply, he sticks the container to
his torso, covers it in wrap, and warms it for 19
hours! In Japan, to capture rock ptarmigan whose
population has over-expanded, he stands for agesin blizzard conditions. He gives gut bacteria toptarmigan chicks and then returns them to thewild. Fieldwork never seems to go as planned, buteven with hardships, he is passionate about his
work. This comes across to children in his story.
(Sakaguchi)

自分の力で肉を獲る（Jibun no chikara de niku o toru）| Text: Senmatsu, Shinya | Ill. Tezuka, Kenyo | Junposha| 2020 | 198pp | 21x16cm | ISBN 9784845116119 | Ages:
11+ | Hunting, Wild game, Forest, LifeThe author, who was seeking unusual mosses fora photographic picture book on the subject, ran
into an old man named Kanji, who told him ferns
had saved his life. Intrigued, the author visited
Kanji to thank him for photos of moss and ask him
to explain what he had meant. Kanji shared that
he had been sent to Guam as a soldier when he
was twenty-two during the Second World War. Attacked by American troops, he lost his left leg andwas in danger of being discovered. He survived,
however, by hiding among the ferns. He crawled
through the jungle to escape and lived as a fugitive. Back home in Japan, his family received news
that Kanji had been killed, and they even held afuneral. Although it may seem like an exciting survival story, the tragic loss of so many young men
in the war is powerfully conveyed. (Nogami)
88

Teacher, I Got the Poo:

Catching Meat with My Own
Strength

完司さんの戦争（Kanji-san no senso）| Text: Ochi, Noriko| Ill. Korushika | Kaiseisha | 2020 | 200pp | 22x16cm |ISBN 9784036451104 | Ages: 11+ | Moss, War, Jungle,
Survival

Written by a Japanese scientist who studies wildorangutan, the text is very easy to follow. Readerslearn what motivated the author to study orangutan, how she conducts fieldwork in Borneo, theecology of orangutan, the fact that they are an
endangered species, and what we can do to help
them. The author also explores the differences
between orangutan and chimpanzees, which livein groups, and differences in the parent-child relationships of orangutan as compared to humans
and other ape species. Not only do we gain adeeper knowledge of orangutan, but we also learn
how our own lifestyle is intricately connected totheir habitat, the forests of southeast Asia. The
author urges us to not only buy products thatare good for us, but ones that are good for theenvironment of the whole planet. (Sakuma)
87

86

Having wondered as a child what it would taketo live on a deserted island, the author became ahunter of wild boars in the mountains near Kyoto.
Using only traps, never a gun, he pitted his knowledge against the animals’. He became an expert
on tracks and droppings, how branches break,
how to observe game trails, how to set up traps
and put down the ensnared animals, as well as
how to butcher, cook and preserve meat, and utilize bones and hide. All of this is portrayed here incolor photos and illustrations, as well as concrete,detailed text. The title emphasizes the author’s
independence, but his reverence and gratitude forthe mountains’ natural wonders comes through.
This book also gets readers thinking deeply about
environmental conservation. (Sakaguchi)

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To the Children Livinga Hundred Years from Now

Diet Fantasies:

Culture Association Japan | 2020 | 32pp | 27x22cm |ISBN 9784540192067 | Ages: 11+ | Fukushima, Radiation,
Hometown| ISBN 9784480683618 | Ages: 13+ | Diet, Love, Cuteness,
Eating disorders

Lose Weight, Be Loved

百年後を生きる子どもたちへ（Hyakunengo o ikiru
kodomotachi e）| Text/Photos: Toyoda, Naomi | Rural

ダイエット幻想（Daietto genso）| Text: Isono, Maho | Ill.
Harada, Arisa | Chikuma Shobo | 2019 | 224pp | 18x11cm

This is part of a photo picture book series about
people displaced by the 2011 nuclear disaster.
Former residents of Tsushima area, Fukushima
prefecture, are introduced, along with theirproject to collect memories going as far back as
850 years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Sekiba are a couple
who have moved five times since the disaster, who
now live in a rural town with similarities to the one
they left. Mr. Yoshito Konno, a former mayor, hasbeen living in temporary housing while returning
once per month to measure the radiation. He runs
a study group focusing on radioactive pollution,and he works on the memory project. “Sometimes
it seems that even our memories have been polluted by the radiation.” These poignant words by
the Sekibas linger in the heart. (Doi)The world is full of diet methods that come andgo. This book does not negate or critique them;rather, the author, a cultural anthropologist,
considers why Japanese women are encouraged
to diet, thinking that they want to “slim down” or“be cute.” What is behind this? Japanese society’s
fixation on childlike women; the tendency to see
women as passive, “chosen” (or not) or “loved” (ornot); the loss of power to live when eating basedon facts accumulated in one’s head. Many issues
come up with plentiful examples, all presented inunderstandable text. (Sakuma)

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The Hans Christian Andersen Award

KADONO Eiko 19352018 Author Award

Winners

UEHASHI Nahoko 1962-

MADO Michio 1909-2014

2014 Author Award

1994 Author Award

Born in Tokyo, Nahoko Uehashi
researched indigenous people inAustralia for her PhD in cultural
authoropology. Her literary debut
came in 1989, when her first book won
an award that brought her into the
spotlight. In 1996, she began to write
her historical fantasy series Moribito(Guardian), which became a huge hit
and received several literature awards inand outside of Japan, including the IBBY
Honour List and the Batchelder Awardin the USA. Her series The Beast Player is
now out in the USA and the UK.

Michio Mado was born in Tokuyama.
When he was a small child, his familyleft for Taiwan, leaving him behindwith his grandfather. He began to write
poetry at the age of 19. In 1934, two of
his poems were recognized by Hakushu
Kitahara, the most respected poet of
the time. This marked the beginning of
Mado’s career as a creator of nursery
rhymes, songs and poems for children.
The Animals , co-published in the USA
and Japan as a bilingual book, wastranslated by then Empress Michiko ofJapan.

ANNO Mitsumasa

AKABA Suekichi 1910-1990

1926-20201980 Illustrator Award

1984 Illustrator Award

Born in Tokyo, Suekichi Akaba
emigrated to Manchuria at the age of
21. He worked in industry and began topaint while still there. He was awarded
special recognition three times at the
Manchurian National Art Exhibition.
After returning to Japan at the age of36, Akaba mastered painting techniques
on his own; he published his first picturebook in 1961. His influences include
traditional Japanese painting and Felix
Hoffmann.

Born in Tsuwano, a village located ina valley surrounded by mountains,
Mitsumasa Anno developed a strong
desire to experience places beyond
those mountains while growing up. Thisis reflected in his books. He taught art
in elementary school for ten years; hisfirst two picture books reflect his loveof playing with visual perception, andhis drawings, often compared to Escher,
not only abound with visual trickery andillusions but also display a playful senseof humour.

22

Born in Tokyo, Eiko Kadono moved toBrazil for two years when she was 25,
and based on her experiences there
she wrote her first book. Since then she
has written many books for childrenof several generations. Her chapter
book Majo no takkyubin (Kiki’s Delivery
Service), written in 1984, won a numberof prizes and was included on the IBBY
Honour List. This story was adapted into
a wildly popular animated film by Hayao
Miyazaki. Kadono has been decorated
by the Emperor of Japan for her
significant contributions to children’s
literature.

Nominees since 2000
ARAI Ryoji

CHO Shinta

1956-

1927-2005

2022 Illustrator

1998/2000 Illustrator

KAKO Satoshi

HAYASHI Akiko

ISHII Momoko

IWASE Joko

1945-

1907-20081950-

1926-20182008/2010 Illustrator

2002 Author

2022 Author

2012 Illustrator

KANZAWA Toshiko

KATAYAMA Ken

NASU Masamoto

1924-

1940-

OTA Daihachi

1942-2021

1918-2016

2000/2006 Author

2014/2016 Illustrator

2012 Author

1970/2002/04/06 Illustrator

SATO Satoru

TANIKAWA Shuntaro

TASHIMA Seizo

TOMIYASU Yoko

1928-2017

1931-

1940-

1959-

2004 Author

2008/2010 Author

2018/2020 Illustrator

2020 Author

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Japanese Books Selected forthe IBBY Honour ListJBBY has selected books for three categories (writing/illustration/translation) of the IBBY Honour List
every two years since 1992. Since 2008, JBBY has given these books the JBBY Award.
WRITING
Writing 2020
NASHIYA Arie
Sensing Your Presence
Kimi no sonzai o ishiki suru
PoplarWriting 2018
FURUUCHI Kazue
Hula Boys
Furadan
Komine Shoten

Writing 2016
IWASE Joko
Since the New One Came
Atarashii ko ga kite
Iwasaki Shoten

Writing 2014
MAHARA Mito
Where the Steel Sparks Fly
Tetsu no shibuki ga haneru
KodanshaWriting 2010
HAMANO Kyoko
FusionFyujonKodanshaWriting 2008
TAKADONO Hoko
Let's Be Frrrrriends
Otomodasa ni narimasho
Froebel-kan

Writing 2006
OGIWARA Noriko
The Tale of the Flute Player
Fujinhisho
Tokuma Shoten

Writing 2004
UEHASHI Nahoko
Guardian of the God
Kami no moribito
Kaiseisha

Writing 2002
TOMIYASU Yoko
Mokko in Mount Yamamba
Yamanba yama no Mokko tachi
Fukuinkan Shoten

Writing 2000
ITO YuA Bridge to the Other WorldOni no hashi
Fukuinkan Shoten

Writing 1998
OKADA Jun
The Stories of the Kosoado Woods
Kosoado no mori no monogatari
RironshaWriting 1996
ITO Hiroshi
Hurrah, I'm a Monkey
Osaru ni naru hi
KodanshaWriting 1994
IWASE Joko
Tanikawa Said It's Not a Lie
Uso janaiyo to Tanikawa kun wa itta
PHP InstituteWriting 1992
MITAMURA Nobuyuki
When I was a Dinosaur
Boku ga kyoryu datta koro
Holp Shuppan

ILLUSTRATION
Illustration 2020
TAMURA Shigeru
Night Sounds
Yoru no oto
Kaiseisha

Illustration 2014
ABE Hiroshi
To the New World
Shin sekai eKaiseisha

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Illustration 2018SUZUKI Koji
Dome Story
Domu gatari
Text: Binard, Arthur
Tamagawa University Press

Illustration 2012INOUE Yosuke
Hats
Boshi
East Press

Illustration 2016
YOSHIDA Hisanori
The Ranch of Hope in Fukushima
Kibo no bokujo
Text: Mori, Eto
Iwasaki Shoten

Illustration 2010
ITO Hideo
Ushio
Ushio
Billiken Shuppan

Illustration 2008
ARAI Ryoji
The Sun Organ
Taiyo orugan
Kaiseisha

Illustration 2002
CHO Shinta
The Magical Fun of
the Long-nosed Ogre
Tengu no hauchiwa
Text: Kayama, Yoshiko
Kyoiku Gageki
Illustration 1996
MATSUOKA Tatsuhide
Exploring the Dinosaur Age
with My Robot
Boku no robotto kyoryu tanken
Fukuinkan Shoten

Illustration 2006
CHO Shinta
The Story of the Earthworm
Named Ossan
Mimizu no Ossan
Doshinsha

Illustration 2000
ONO Kaoru
The Night of Kagura
OkaguraText: Waki, Akiko
PoplarIllustration 2004
SAITO Takao
The Frogs and the Cat:
Story Inspired by Heike
Monogatari
Kaeru no Heike monogatari
Text: Hino, Kazunari
Fukuinkan Shoten
Illustration 1998
KOBAYASHI Yutaka
My Sweet Village
Sekai ichi utsukushii
boku no mura
PoplarIllustration 1994
AKINO Isamu
Oral Poetry of the Native Americans
Ore wa uta da ore wa koko o aruku
Text: Kanaseki, Hisao
Fukuinkan Shoten

Illustration 1992
YABUUCHI Masayuki
Wild Birds of Japan
Yacho no zukan
Fukuinkan Shoten

Translation 2020
Trans. NISHIMURA Yumi
De Blauwe Maansteen
by Tonke Dragt
Aoi tsuki no ishi
Iwanami Shoten

Translation 2018
Trans. MOTAI Natsuu
Please Be Quiet, My Father is
Taking a Nap: Jewish Folktales
Oshizukani, chichi ga hirune shiteorimasu
Iwanami Shoten

Translation 2016
Trans. HARADA Masaru
No Crystal Stair
by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Haremu no tatakau honya
Asunaro Shobo

Translation 2014
Trans. JINGU Teruo
Swallows and Amazons
by Arthur Ransome
Tsubame-go to Amazon-go
Iwanami Shoten

Translation 2012
Trans. SAITO Michiko
A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck
Shikago yori tondemonai machi
Tokyo Sogensha

Translation 2010
Trans. KODAMA Tomoko
Dido and Pa by Joan Aiken
Daido to tochan
FuzanboTranslation 2008
Trans. CHIBA Shigeki
Dumb Creatures by Jeanne Willis
Ori no naka no himitsu
Asunaro Shobo

Translation 2006
Trans. HISHIKI Akirako
Maj Darlin by Mats Wahl
Mai ga ita natsu
Tokuma Shoten

Translation 2004
Trans. MATSUOKA Kyoko
Ramona Forever by Beverly Cleary
Ramona to atarashii kazoku
GakkenTranslation 2002
Trans. SAKUMA Yumiko
Last Summer with Maizon
by Jacqueline Woodson
Magaretto to Meizon
PoplarTranslation 2000
Trans. SAKAI Haruhiko
The Arabian Nights
edited by Wiggin and Smith
Arabian naito
Fukuinkan Shoten

Translation 1998
Trans. WAKI Akiko
The Silent Shore by Ruth Elwin HarrisOka no ie no Sera
Iwanami Shoten

Translation 1996
Trans. KAKEGAWA Yasuko
Darkling by K. M. Peyton
Unmei no uma Dakuringu
Iwanami Shoten

Translation 1994
Trans. SHIMIZU Masako
A Wizard of Earthsea
by Ursula K. Le Guin
Gedo senki
Iwanami Shoten

Translation 1992
Trans. UCHIDA Risako
Russian Folktales
Roshia no mukashi banashi
Fukuinkan Shoten

TRANSLATION

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Recent Translaions into Japanese
Recommended by JBBYJBBY selected books in three categories (picture books/chapter books and novels/
nonfiction) for its recent publication Translated Children’s Books. JBBY publishes thiscatalog every year for Japanese readers.

26

Picture Books

The Strange Visitor by Baek Heena (KR) | Okashina okyakusama,trans. Hirotaka Nakagawa; Gakken Plus

The Ballad of the Small Tugboat by Joseph Brodsky and Igor
Oleynikov (RU) | Chiisana taguboto no barado, trans. Kyoko Numano; Tokyo Gaikokugo Daigaku Shuppankai

The Toad Goes by Jong-Chae Park (KR) | Hikigaeru ga iku, trans.
Myonhou Shin and Yukiko Hiromatsu; Iwanami Shoten

Blanket Backpack by Lee Choon Hee and Kim Dong Seong (KR) |Chekupo, trans. Kiyomi Otake; Fukuinkan Shoten

Chapter Books and Novels

Colette's Lost Pet by Isabelle Arsenault (US) | Koretto no nigeta
inko, trans. Misao Fushimi; Kaiseisha

Anti by Jonathan Yavin (IL) | Anchi, trans. Satoko Kamoshida; Iwanami Shoten

A Letter to My Teacher by Deborah Hopkinson and Nancy
Carpenter (US) | Daisuki na sensei e, trans. Mayumi Matsukawa;
Hyoronsha

Almond by Sohn Won-Pyung (KR) | Amondo, trans. Akiko Yajima;
Shodensha

Little Boy Brown by Isobel Harris and André François (FR) | Buraun
boya no tobikiri saiko no hi, trans. Misao Fushimi; Rokurinsha

Alla Vi Barn I Bullerbyn by Astrid Lindgren and Ingrid Vang Nyman (SE) | Yakamashi mura no kodomo tachi, trans. Toshiko Ishii;
Iwanami Shoten

Lubna and Pebble by Wendy Meddour and Daniel Egnéus (UK) |Rubuna to koishi, trans. Ryo Kisaka; BL Shuppan

Ban This Book by Alan Gratz (US) | Kashidashi kinshi no hon osukue!, trans. Fumiko Naito; Holp Shuppan

Me and My Fear by Francesca Sanna (UK) | Himitsu no Bikubiku,
trans. Chihiro Nakagawa; Kosaido Akatsuki

The Best Man by Richard Peck (US) | Besutoman, trans. Shigeki
Chiba; Shogakukan

The Moon Was at a Fiesta by Matthew Gollub and Leovigildo
Martinez (US) | Omatsuri o tanoshinda otsukisama, trans. Yumiko
Sakuma; Nora Shoten

Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk (US) | Kono umi o koereba, watashi wa, trans. Haruno Nakai and Reiko Nakaigawa; Saera
Shobo

The Night Gardener by Terry Fan and Eric Fan (US) | Yoru no aidani, trans. Masaru Harada; Goblin Shobo

Une bouteille dans la mer de Gaza by Valérie Zenatti (FR) | Bin ni
ireta tegami, trans. Misao Fushimi; Bunken Shuppan¡Qué suerte tengo! by Lawrence Schimel and Juan Camilo Mayorga (ES) | Oniichan to boku, trans. Kazumi Uno; Mitsumura Kyoiku
Tosho

The Cat and the King by Nick Sharratt (UK) | Neko to osama, trans.
Izumi Ichida; Tokuma Shoten

The Remember Balloons by Jessie Oliveros and Dana Wulfkotte(US) | Tonde itta fusen wa, trans. Keiko Ochiai; Ehonjuku Shuppan

Cento Passi per Volare by Giuseppe Festa (IT) | Tobu tame nohyappo, trans. Ari Sugimoto; Iwasaki Shoten

The Rough Patch by Brian Lies (UK) | Fokkusu san no niwa, trans.
Aiko Sena; Hyoronsha

Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate (US) | Kurensho ga arawarete,trans. Tomoko Kodama; Froebel-kan

Le Ruban by Adrien Parlange (FR) | Ribon, trans. Masao Kitamura;
Dainippon Kaiga

La distanza tra me e il ciliegio by Paola Peretti (IT) | Sakura no ki
no mieru basho, trans. Eiko Sekiguchi; Shogakukan

Saturday is Swimming Day by Hyewon Yum (US) | Puru no hi wa,
onaka itai hi, trans. Misao Fushimi; Mitsumura Kyoiku Tosho

The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan and Peter Sís (US) | Yume miru
hito, trans. Masaru Harada; Iwanami Shoten

Schneller Hase by John Kilaka (CH) | Nakayoshi no mizu, trans.
Yumiko Sakuma; Nishimura Shoten

The Eleventh Trade by Alyssa Hollingsworth (US) | Juichi banme
no torihiki, trans. Sumiko Moriuchi; Suzuki Shuppan

Every Falling Star by Sungju Lee and Susan McClelland (US) |Sonju no mita hoshi, trans. Kaori Nozawa; Tokuma Shoten

Wolf on the Fold by Judith Clarke (AU) | Okami ga kita asa, trans.
Yoshiko Funato; Fukuinkan Shoten

Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome (US) | Kibo no toshikan,trans. Naomi Matsuura; Poplar

Nonfiction Books

Flamingo Boy by Michael Morpurgo (UK) | Furamingo boi, trans.
Nanae Sugita; Shogakukan

Así es la dictadura by Equipo Plantel and Mikel Casal (ES) | Dokusai seiji towa?, trans. Kazumi Uno; Akane Shobo

Ghost by Jason Reynolds (US) | Gosuto, trans. Fumiko Naito;
Komine Shoten

Because I am a Girl: I Can Change the World by Rosemary McCarney and Jen Albaugh (CA) | Watashi wa onnanoko dakara, trans.
Yoshiko Nishida; Nishimura Shoten

The Giant Horse and Other Stories (Africa) | Kibaraka to maho nouma, edit/trans. Yumiko Sakuma; Iwanami Shoten

Buiten Is Het Oorlog by Janny van der Molen and Martijn van der
Linden (NL) | Kakurega no Anne Furanku, trans. Yumi Nishimura;
Iwanami Shoten

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (US) | Tsuki nohikari o nonda shojo, trans. Mikamu Sato; Hyoronsha

Curiosity by Markus Motum (UK) | Kyurioshiti boku wa kasei ni iru,
trans. Motoko Matsuda; BL Shuppan

Many Moons by James Thurber and Louis Slobodkin (US) | Takusan
no otsuki sama, trans. Chihiro Nakagawa; Tokuma Shoten

Eyes of the World: Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and the Inventionof Modern Photojournalism by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos(US) | Kyapa to Geruda, trans. Masaru Harada; Asunaro Shobo

Mästerdetektiven Blomkvist by Astrid Lindgren (SE) | Meitantei
Karre joseki no nazo, trans. Akirako Hishiki; Iwanami Shoten

Freddie Mercury, Una biografía by Alfonso Casas (ES) | Furedi
Makyuri, trans. Kazu Uno and Kyoko Ohara; Iwasaki Shoten

The Misculculations of Lightning Girl by Stacy McAnulty (US) |Tensai Rushi no keisan chigai, trans. Natsuko Tanaka; Kodansha

The Great Big Body Book by Mary Hoffman and Ros Asquith (UK)
| Iroiro ironna karada no hon, trans. Emi Sugimoto; Shonen Shashin
Shimbunsha

More About the Little Old Woman Who Used Her Head by Hope
Newell (US) | Atama o tsukatta chiisana obaasan ganbaru, trans.
Kyoko Matsuoka; illus. Nana Furiya; Fukuinkan Shoten

How Colour Works by Catherine Barr and Yuliya Gwilym (UK) | Iro
ga mieruno wa doshite?, trans. Shigeki Chiba; Shogakukan

The Most Important Thing by Avi (US) | Boku ga ichiban kikitai
koto wa, trans. Minami Aoyama; Holp Shuppan

Library on Wheels by Sharlee Glenn (US) | Hashiru toshokan ga
umareta hi, trans. Hiroko Shibuya; Hyoronsha

The Mousehole Cat by Barbara Anthony and Nicola bayley (UK) |Arashi o shizumeta neko no uta, trans. Yuko Obika; Tokuma Shoten

Loudly, Softly, In a Whisper by Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy
Lesiv (UA) | Urusaku, shizukani, hisohiso to, trans. Yukiko Hiromatsu;
Kawade Shobo Shinsha

A Necklace of Raindrops and Other Stories by Joan Aiken and
Jan Pienkowski (UK) | Shizuku no kubikazari, trans. Yoko Inokuma;
Iwanami Shoten

The Mummy Makers of Egypt by Tamara Bower (US) | Miira gaku,
trans. Kodomo club; Imajinsha

Refugee by Alan Gratz (US) | Ashita o sagasu tabi, trans. Yumiko
Sakuma; Fukuinkan Shoten

Nothing Stopped Sophie by Cheryl Bardoe and Barbara McClintock (US) | Suji wa watashi no kotoba, trans. Yumiko Fukumoto;Holp Shuppan

Running on Empty by S. E. Durrant (UK) | Boku no kaeru basho,trans. Nanae Sugita; Suzuki Shuppan

Peace and Me by Ali Winter and Mickaël El Fathi (UK) | Pisu ando
mi watashi no heiwa, trans. Haruno Nakai; Kamogawa Shuppan

The Secret Horse of Briar Hill by Megan Shepherd and Levi Pinfold (UK) | Buraiahiru no himitsu no uma, trans. Masaru Harada andAsami Sawada; Komine Shoten

Plastic Planet by Georgia Amson-Bradshaw (UK) | Purasuchikku
puranetto, trans. Izumi Oyama; Hyoronsha

Three Gay Tales from Grimm by Wanda Gág (US) | Gurimu no
yukai na ohanashi, trans. Kyoko Matsuoka; Nora Shoten

A Ray of Light by Walter Wick (US) | Hitosuji no hikari, trans.
Shigeki Chiba; Shogakukan

Trick or Treat by Louis Slobodkin (US) | Yanagi dori no obake yashiki, trans. Yu Komiya; Zuiunsha

Syria's Secret Library by Mike Thomson (UK) | Senjo no himitsu
toshokan, trans. Ayako Oguni; Bunkeido

The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (US) |Watashi ga idonda tatakai 1940 nen, trans. Michiko Osaku; Hyoronsha

Willewete, Naar de film by Florence Ducatteau and Chantal
Peten (NL) | Eiga tte doyatte tsukuru no?, trans. Etsuko Nozaka;
Nishimura Shoten

Wish by Barbara O'Connor (US) | Hontou no negai ga kanau toki,trans. Reina Nakano; Kaiseisha

27

Japanese Children's Books 2021

JBBY’s recommendations for young readers throughout the world© Japanese Board on Books for Young People (JBBY), 2021
JBBY Secretariat
1-32 Kandajimbocho, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 101-0051 Japan
Tel. [int. +81] 3 6273 7703
Fax [int. +81] 3 6273 7708
E-mail: info@jbby.org
https://jbby.org/
Book selection and review:
Yasuko Doi, Yukiko Hiromatsu, Akira Nogami, Mikako Sakaguchi, Yumiko Sakuma
Translation: Cathy Hirano, Avery Fischer Udagawa
Cover illustration: Shigeru Tamura
Supported by
The Foundation for the Advancement of Juvenile Education in Japan

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