Wabi Sabi

Bibliography

Reibstein, Mark. 2008. Wabi Sabi. Ill. by Ed Young. New York, NY: Little Brown and Company. ISBN 9780316118255.

Audi-book recorded by Jennifer Ikeda. 2009. Recorded Books, LLC. Recorded by arrangement with McIntosh & Otis, Inc. ISBN: 9781440719210

Plot Summary

Wabi Sabi, a little cat in Kyoto, Japan, had never thought much about her name until friends visiting from another land asked her owner what it meant. Her master did not answer for a while and when she did all she could say was “That is hard to explain.” Wabi Sabi is unsatisfied with the answer and sets out to find the meaning of her name. She asks her friend, Snowball, her not so nice friend Rascal the dog, and a bird what her name means. They all respond, “That is hard to explain.” The bird does give Wabi Sabi advice: “But there is someone who can help you. His name is Kosho and he lives on Mount Hiei, to the east.” Wabi Sabi sets out to find the mountain. Wabi Sabi travels through the city and finally arrives at Mt. Hiei and falls asleep. When she wakes, she meets a monkey who offers her tea and the true meaning of Wabi Sabi: a Japanese philosophy of seeing beauty in simplicity, the ordinary, and imperfection.

Critical Analysis

In his picture book, Mark Reibstein weaves a wonderful story about finding real beauty in unexpected places. The text is simple, easy to read prose and Haiku poems. Each page also has the Haiku poem written in Japanese. At the end of the book, there is a history of Wabi Sabi and information about Haiku and Haibun. In addition, there are Haiku poems written by the great Japanese poets, Bosho and Shiki, at the end of the book. These poems are then translated into English by Nanae Tamura. The reader holds the book vertically to view full page spreads of striking collages, which look real enough to touch. The collages are made of various materials (straw, paper, hair, all kinds of things) and are amazing, as Ed Young’s word so often is.

This beautiful book has many markers of the Japanese culture. Wabi Sabi’s master is dressed in a traditional kimono and is sitting on her knees as if she is performing the tea ceremony. The most apparent mark of this culture is the actual idea of Wabi Sabi. Reibstein says:

Wabi Sabi is a way of seeing the world that is at the heart of Japanese culture. It finds beauty and harmony in what is simple, imperfect, natural, modest, and mysterious. It can be a little dark, but it is also warm and comfortable. It may best be understood as a feeling, rather than as an idea.

Review Excerpts

Jo Anna Patton (Library Media Connection, June 2009)
A young cat, interested in knowing the meaning of her name, Wabi Sabi, travels around to question different animals. It is only when she finds the wise old monkey at the Silver Temple that she discovers that her name means ‘finding real beauty in unexpected places.’ The strength of this book lies in its depth. On a basic level is the story itself, which draws the reader into the cat’s journey. On another level is the artwork provided by well-known children’s author/illustrator Ed Young. Each page is laid out in color highlighted with a haiku in Japanese. Finally, the end of the book provides a history of the phrase, Wabi Sabi, and an English translation for all of the Japanese haiku presented.

Ilene Cooper (Booklist, Sep. 1, 2008 (Vol. 105, No. 1) Reibstein and Young have created a magnificent offering that is the embodiment of Wabi Sabi, incorporating all the elements listed above. Remarkably, the well-paced story is also ethereal, bringing readers, like its protagonist, to the edge of comprehension, then letting them absorb all that has come before to make their own connections. In this endeavor, the text is aided by Young’s amazing collages. So lifelike are they that children will reach out to touch, and then touch again, not quite believing the art is one-dimensional. The format, which has readers opening the book lengthwise, allows extra room for embellishments like haiku by poets Basho and Shiki written in Japanese on the page and translated in an addendum. A glorious piece of bookmaking whose subject and execution will reach a wide age range.

Connections

Other Poetry books about Haiku:

If Not for the Cat: Haiku by Jack Prelutsky. ISBN 9780060596774

Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho by Dawnine Spivak ; illustrated by Demi. ISBN 9780689807763

Learn about Ed Young: http://www.edyoung.info/

http://www.gigglepoetry.com/POETRYCLASS/haiku.html

http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/_assets/books/educatorguides/WABI_SABI_EduGuide.pdf.

Erika San

Bibliography

Say, Allen. 2009. Erika-san. New York, NY. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN: 9780618889334

Plot Summary

Erika, a young American girl, falls in love with a watercolor print of Japanese house hanging in her Grandmother’s home. She decides at an early age to travel to Japan. Erika’s grandmother helps her to learn all about the Japanese culture by reading to her at bedtime. Erika studies Japanese from middle school through college. On the day of graduation, Erika leaves for her new teaching job in Tokyo. When she arrives in Tokyo, she is overwhelmed. Determined to find the perfect place represented in the picture, Erika pleads with the job agency to find her a quieter place. She finally finds a job on a beautiful remote island that no one else wants. There she meets Aikira-san. He offers to show her around the island. On a biking trip, she finally finds the house in her beloved picture.

Critical Analysis

This beautiful picture book is written with older readers in mind. The book is filled with images of modern Japanese culture such as the huge city of Tokyo and the bullet train. As Erika travels farther out in search of the peaceful scene in the beloved picture, readers see images that represent the older Japanese culture. However, Say does not always explain what the readers are looking at. I felt lost when it came to the evening scene in the large town square. It is obvious that there is a ceremony or parade going on but I never figured out what it meant. Sparing use of the Japanese language such as Mama-san, Papa-san and the restaurant named “Kamome”- which means “seagull” also add to the authenticity of the story. The story is heartwarming and amazingly simple. The tea ceremony is another cultural marker that is not explained in detail however, it does add to the authenticity of the story. Erika’s story is told in a way that expresses her desire to find the quiet, solitary place she has dreamed about and her success in finding it.

Review Excerpts

From School Library Journal
Say's exquisite paintings provide backdrop for a charming fairy tale with a contemporary, feminist twist. Here, it is a girl (read "princess") whose quest to find her heart's desire is at the core of the story. As a child, Erika becomes entranced with a painting on her grandmother's wall, depicting a small rustic house in Japan. Determined to find it, she prepares (in true fairy-tale fashion) for her journey, learning about the country and studying the language. Following college, she begins her search, and accepts a teaching assignment in Japan. Once there, it takes the proverbial three challenges before she finds success. Tokyo is too large, another (unnamed) city is too noisy, but in the third place—a small rural island community—Erika finds the house of her dreams, a welcoming class of children, and a "prince" named Aki to share her life. The house in the painting, she discovers, is a teahouse, where one day, kimono-clad, she happily performs a formal tea ceremony for Aki. Say's soft-colored paintings, detailed but not busy, contain just the right amount of nuance to build the story. He nicely contrasts the busyness of the cities with the verdant landscapes of the country, casting a happy-ever-after glow to the tale. More romantic and idealistic than many of Say's stories, Erika-San will find readers beyond the usual picture-book crowd.

Children's Literature
As a little girl, Erika falls in love with a cottage shown in a picture her grandfather brought back from Japan. She becomes fascinated with Japan and Japanese stories; she even studies Japanese through college. Afterwards, Erika takes a teaching job in Tokyo, but she doesn’t like the city and soon moves on to a place where she hopes to find old Japan. On a remote island, she meets Aki, who shows her around. She discovers a teahouse that looks like the cottage in her grandfather’s picture and studies the tea ceremony. With Aki she finds her happy ending in the Japan of her dreams. Say’s illustrations are full-page realistic watercolors framed on white pages. We see a sleek bullet train in a meticulously clean station and masses of passengers exiting the Tokyo train. We also see the countryside and Erika’s class of young schoolgirls in their uniforms. The visuals are more informative than emotionally moving, but they do offer views of Japan along this sentimental story of crossing cultures.

Connections

The book, Kodomo : Children of Japan by Susan Kuklin will give readers an informative, insightful look at daily life and traditional Japanese customs and culture ISBN: 9780399226137

Tea With Milk by Allen Say ISBN: 9780395904954

Poetry: One Leaf Rides the Wind : Counting in a Japanese Garden by Celeste Davidson Mannis ; illustrated by Susan Kathleen Hartung ISBN: 9780670035250

Students can learn about the Japanese Tea Ceremony at this website: http://kidscookingwithcricket.blogspot.com/2008/03/japanese-tea-ceremony.html