Yoko's Show-and-Tell
PreSchool-Grade 2 Wells's adorable Japanese-American kitten introduced inYoko(1998) andYoko Writes Her Name(2008, both Hyperion) continues to share her Japanese heritage with her classmates in this culturally realistic and touching picture book. Yoko receives an antique doll dressed in a kimono from her Japanese grandparents with instructions to care for it until Girl's Day, a holiday that celebrates dolls and daughters. In her eagerness to share this special holiday with her classmates, Yoko, against her mother's explicit instructions, takes the doll to school for show-and-tell where it gets tossed back and forth in a game of keep-away on the bus. Yoko is heartsick over its destruction and realizes that she was wrong to take it to school. Her mother's calm reassurance that she loves Yoko even though she made a mistake is a heartwarming message. Wells's charming cut-paper collage illustrations are full of Asian decorations and patterns, including a Shoji screen, low tables, and beautiful kimonos. The Japanese terms for grandmother and grandfather are deftly introduced into the simple, conversational text. Children will identify with Yoko's excitement and heartbreak over having something special ruined.Kristine M. Casper, Huntington Public Library, NYCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.