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KITSUNE MATSURI

Name: KITSUNE MATSURI
Author: William H. Johnston
ISBN: 978-1499359688

THE OPEN GATEWAY

by William H. Johnston ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 12, 2012

Much like its protagonist, this novel is endearing, sincere and slightly gawky. American Tobias Blackwood has come to Japan...

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Johnston’s debut novel is travel narrative, fantasy and coming-of-age saga woven with magic, nobility of spirit and idealized—almost courtly—love.

Much like its protagonist, this novel is endearing, sincere and slightly gawky. American Tobias Blackwood has come to Japan with his new friend John Tell to teach English as part of the Society of English Learners. His adventure gets off to a rocky start, however, when he finds himself halfway up a mountain, bloody and without his glasses, victim of his own clumsiness. His mishaps, however, do have the net positive result of attracting the attention of a mysterious woman named Matsuri. She becomes a friend and helps Tobias as he faces challenges both natural (teaching at a new school in a new country) and supernatural (fending off hungry demons and dealing with drunken tanuki: “They look like raccoons, but they resemble a badger or wild dog more than a raccoon—kind of cute but really shifty”). Tobias’ biggest challenge, though, is neither demon, tanuki nor kitsune; it’s his feelings for Michiko Yamasaki, his translator and classroom aide. Luckily, Tobias has his friends—and the kind support of his wise hosts, Jomei and Aoki Yoshida—to help him navigate all the unexpected experiences Japan has to offer him. In fact, the character relationships are one of the greatest strengths of this story, the other being the clear love of Japan and the attention to cultural detail woven throughout. Many lines of dialogue are even written in Romanized Japanese—with footnotes. Unfortunately, this can distract from the flow of the story, as readers have to refer to the bottoms of the pages, often several times on a single page, to follow the narrative. The dialogue also has a heightened, old-fashioned feel, which can sometimes read as stilted: “Enough talk of work. Tobias-san, would you like to start us off on the karaoke?” Nevertheless, that doesn’t stop characters from being engaging. Tobias’ adventures are fairly straightforward, although the way they tend to alternate between real-world and supernatural problems can make the narrative feel a bit like a car stuck between two gears.

Pub Date: April 12, 2012

ISBN: 978-1499359688

Page Count: 184

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2014

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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TALES FOR VERY PICKY EATERS

by Josh Schneider & illustrated by Josh Schneider ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2011

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Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)

Pub Date: May 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Clarion Books

Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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ABIYOYO RETURNS

by Pete Seeger & Paul Dubois Jacobs & illustrated by Michael Hays ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2001

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The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)