JAPANESE BOARD ON BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE Japanese Children's Boo TBBY es Cover illustration by Maki Arai Born in Tokyo in 1965, Maki Arai is a painter of meticulously de- tailed saimitsuga artwork. She was awarded the Golden Ap- ple BIB for Tanpopo (Dandelion; Kinnohoshi-sha) in 2017. The cover illustration comes from her picture book Asagao (Morning Glory; Kinnohoshi-sha).
Japanese Children's Books
CONTENTS
●● About JBBY and This Catalog  ,,. ● Recent Japanese Children's Books Recommended by JBBY Picture books (29 titles since 2016) ...............................................................................................4 Chapter books and novels (23 titles since 2016) ......................................................................9 Nonfiction (29 titles since 2016)  Subject index . • The Hans Christian Andersen Award Since 2000 4 winners and 12 nominees  ● The IBBY Honour List Since 1990 14 titles for Writing, 15 titles for Illustration, and 15 titles for Translation......... 24 • Book Selection Team … ●● Special Essay by Yumiko Sakuma Growth in Japanese Children's Book Publishing Since World War II ...........................27
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 Peo- ple (IBBY). JBBY is dedicated to enhancing international understanding, and to provid- ing information on children's books to people around the world. We pro- mote 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 for children 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 understand- ing towards Japan. In this catalog, we describe recent Japanese books recommended by a JBBY book selection team in several categories: picture books, chapter books and novels, and nonfiction. In addition we introduce Japanese winners of and nominees for the Hans Christian Andersen Awards, and the selected books for the IBBY Honour List since 1990. We list these 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 Text: Soya, Kiyoshi | Illus, Hayashi, Akiko | Tokyo: Fukuinkan Shoten | 2017 | 20 pp. | 20×19 cm | ISBN 9784834083149 | Ages 0+ | Babies, Getting lost, Mothers Text/Illus. Konishi, Eiko | Tokyo: Fukuinkan Shoten | 2017 | 24 pp. | 22×21 cm | ISBN 9784834082807 | Ages 2+ | Cooking, Eating, Making Before sunset, a chick goes outside. "Where are you going?" "It'll be dark soon." In sync with the text, silhouettes of plants in the background seem to worry about the chick and call out to it. Young readers will grow nervous along with them. Yet when the sky grows dark, the chick pulls a leaf over itself and sleeps. The chick who is all alone, yet peacefully sleeping, shows trust in the world. The night sky, the ground, the plants, and the mother who will surely appear, are looking after the chick. The collage illustrations do not over-describe, but color conveys time’s passing, and the overall feel imparts a warm sense of life. (Hiromatsu) Curry rice, made by pouring curry roux on rice, is a popular dish on Japanese tables. This book shows in detail how to prepare it after gathering onions, carrots, potatoes, and beef. "Curry rice, here we come!" The ton-ton-ton of cutting, the juu-juu of frying, and the koto-koto of boiling add enjoyable sounds to the warm illustrations. The fun of cooking and a love for curry rice overflow from this book. You will want to eat curry rice right away. (Shirota) Text: Uchida, Rintaro | Illus, Nagano, Hideko | To- kyo: Kinnohoshi-sha | 2016 | 24 pp. | 21×28 cm | ISBN 9784323032238 | Ages 3+ | Rolling, Girl, Nonsense When little girl Non-chan moves her finger in a cir- cle—guru-guru—everyone looks all around. When she does this to the dragonfly Yanma, she catches him. When a fierce boar charges and a scary ghost threatens to eat her, she does it to them too, and prevails. Then Non-chan thinks of a grand prank, and does guru-guru-guru to a huge tower. What will happen? The veteran author and illustrator achieve breath-like rhythm and pac¬ ing in this nonsense book that frees the heart. A message from the creators on the jacket is also fun. (Hiromatsu) Text: Yasue, Rie | Illus. Tanaka, Kiyo | Tokyo: Fukuinkan Shoten | 2016 | 28 pp. | 26×24 cm | ISBN 9784834082845 | Ages 3+ | Family, Fish, Work, Science Kiyo wakes up at four in the morning and accom- panies her mother, father and grandfather to the fish market where she watches them work and ex- plores the surroundings. There she sees many va- rieties of fish laid out for auction, the unloading of fish from the boats and her mother buying fish at the auction. At the same time, Kiyo is on a mission. Her grandfather has entrusted her with the task of finding a kinmedai or red bream, which she locates successfully. At the end of the day, the red bream becomes a treat for her grandmother's birthday with the whole family gathered around the table to celebrate. The etchings vividly depict the bustle of the workers at the fish market. (Doi) Text/Illus. mirocomachiko | Tokyo: Iwasaki Shoten | 2016 | 32 pp. | 27×32 cm | ISBN 9784265081486 | Ages 3+ | Beasts, Animal trails, Monsters, Birds, Smells The author mirocomachiko won a Plaque at the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava (BIB) in 2017 for this book. On animal trails thick with weeds and flowers and hidden by trees and bushes, the dark shapes of unknown creatures move, their eyes flashing. Boulders roll, the trail groans, strange birds take flight, and the trees and grasses quake. The dynamic brushwork, the repetition of the phrase "It's starting to smell like beasts," and the dense scenes, conjure up the scents of unknown creatures. This is a powerful picture book filled with the life force of wild things. (Nogami) Text: Yumoto, Kazumi | Illus. Sasameya, Yuki | Tokyo: Fukuinkan Shoten | 2016 | 32 pp. | 20×27 cm | ISBN 9784834083095 | Ages 3+ | Fathers, Daydreaming, Night A little girl's father has promised to read her a book at bedtime but phones to say he will be late. The girl wonders where he might be now. First, she imagines him finishing his work, then getting onto the train, walking through the shopping arcade and along the river. There, she pictures him run- ning into a kappa or water sprite who chases him, Her father opens his umbrella and floats away, landing on a slide in the park. Then he runs home. The girl's daydreams are deftly rendered through the dynamic composition and warm touch of the illustrations. (Doi) Text/Illus, Tamura, Shigeru | Tokyo: Kaiseisha | 2017 | 32 pp. | 30×22 cm | ISBN 9784032324808 | Ages 3+ | Night, Sound, Nature A drama about the brief time it takes a boy to walk along the bank of a pond to his grandfather's house one summer's night. Nothing in particular happens, but there is abundant life: insects chir¬ rup at his feet; the whistle of a train is heard in the distance; as the frog jumps in, ripples on the water spread like a galaxy. The inspiration for this work was the shock the author felt aged nine upon reading Matsuo Basho's famous haiku, "The old pond/A frog jumps in/The sound of the water." The muted blue tone of the pictures has been pains- takingly created by hand using calculated color separation. The pages breathe life stimulating all five senses. (Hiromatsu) Text/Illus, Karube, Takehiro | Tokyo: Komine Shoten | 2017 | 32 pp. | 31×24 cm | ISBN 9784338261289 | Ages 3+ | Night, Moon, Buckets, Animals, Fish, Strange hap- penings, Puddles A bucket is walking along on a moonlit night when it trips, making a giant puddle. A wildcat scratches the surface and the puddle shrieks. An owl hoots and the puddle hoots back. A boy comes to fish in it and elephants bathe in it. Fish pour down with the rain and a wolf comes to take a drink. With a shout of "Oshimai!" (The End!), the water is sucked back into the bucket. In this funny picture book of a crazy moonlit night, the identity of the bucket is only revealed at the very end. (Nogami) Text: Mado, Michio | Illus: Mashima, Setsuko | To- kyo: Kogumasha | 2017 | 24 pp. | 20×21 cm | ISBN 9784772102353 | Ages 2+ | Bears, Poetry, Identity, Spring This is a picture book version of the poem "Kuma- san" by the well-known Japanese poet Mado Mi- chio. Spring has come and a bear cub wakes from hibernation. While gazing at the dandelions, he wonders, "Who am I?" Coming to a river, he sees his reflection in the water and remembers that he is a bear. The illustrations give a soft and humor- ous portrayal of the drowsy bear waking from hi- bernation, the way he enjoys nature with his entire body, his uncertainty when he cannot remember who he is, and his joy and satisfaction at rediscov- ering that he is a bear. (Doi) Text/Illus, Kikuchi, Chiki | Tokyo: Kosei Shuppansha | 2016 | 32 pp. | 31×24 cm | ISBN 9784333027439 | Ages 2+ | Elephants, Rhythm, Animals Text/Illus. Gomi, Taro | Tokyo: Doshinsha | 2016 | 24 pp. | 20×20 cm | ISBN 9784494014576 | Ages 2+ | Outings, Penguins, Character A small red elephant walks along singing. Mar- shalling his trunk like the adult elephants, he eats grass, drinks water, and splashes mud on his dry skin. Soon other herbivores such as the giraffe and gazelle join in (hyenas and other predators are shooed off), and soon many friends stomp the earth and call out in a grand parade. The creator of this book has earned international acclaim for inviting watercolors and ink drawings, but here offers a hymn to a strongly lived, fervently desired life by rough artwork. Rhythm, joie de vivre, and excited energy will pass right into toddlers. (Hiro- matsu) For small children going out alone is an adven¬ ture. A baby penguin goes out slowly onto an ice- covered path, walking and sliding ever so gingerly, doing his best not to fall along the way, and care- fully negotiating bumps in the path and steep slopes…but just when he thinks he’s arrived safely at his aunt’s house, what should happen? This is the first in Gomi Taro's "The Outing" series of three books. The others are An Energetic Outing about a child who bumps into everything, and A Hurried Outing taking his own childhood as a model. Each book has its own amusing character. (Hiromatsu) 5