The Old Man Mad About Drawing: A Tale of Hokusai
Grade 3-6-Tojiro, a nine-year-old orphan, sells rice cakes on the streets of 19th-century Edo, the bustling city we now call Tokyo. One of his customers is the grumpy, eccentric octogenarian Hokusai. The old man takes a liking to Tojiro, and soon employs him as his assistant. The boy's ignorance provides a convenient vehicle for introducing the artist's life and work. Much of the dialogue and action is too obviously written for the purpose of conveying information about Hokusai, as well as the technique of woodblock printing and the social customs of Edo. The book's greatest strength is not the text, but the art that enlivens every page. A combination of the author's watercolors and reproductions of Hokusai's drawings and woodblock prints, the illustrations are arranged in enticing and varied page designs. Place's detailed paintings, clearly influenced by Hokusai, but with a life that is all their own, depict the action of the story. The reproductions allow readers to discover the artist's masterpieces along with Tojiro, and wonder how much his sketchbooks, called manga, have influenced modern Japanese cartoons. Schools where Japan is studied will want this very handsome small volume, as will public libraries where there is an interest in Japanese art.Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North AdamsCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.