YASU AND THE STRANGERS

The latest stop on the author/illustrator's picture book tour of the Orient is Japan (this follows the India of The Polka-Dot Goat, 1964). There is nothing exclusively Japanese in this story about a boy on a school bus trip, except that the destination is a temple at Nara, the scenery includes rice paddies and cherry trees, and the children bow when they say thank you. For that matter the narrative of the smallest boy on the expedition, who gets lost, and is trailed by a fawn (lost) and two American tourists (also lost) is not at all distinctive. The charm is in the illustrations which suggest a variety of Japanese landmarks and give the characters a range of emotions. The pictures of little Yasu, the deer, and the foreigners, first looking very bewildered at the huge crowd and then triumphant at finding the way, are most appealing.