Product Description

A little Japanese girl enjoys the falling snow as she makes snow bunnies and walks across the snowy fields with her mother to the village market.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3368548 in Books
• Published on: 1986-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 31 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Originally published in Japan, this colorful book tells the story of Mi-chan, a little girl from the snowy north of Japan, who searches for something to use for the eyes of the snow bunnies she has made. Hidaka's delicate watercolors lend grace to an otherwise slight story about Mi-chan's trip to the marketplace, during which she kindly sweeps snow off the stone statue of Jizo, protector of children and travelers. Later, after she has found red berries to use for the bunnies' eyes, her mother tells her, Jizu "helped you find what you wanted." Particularly appealing are Hidaka's portrayal of lush flowers in the marketplace, elegant arches of snow-covered branches and green-eared snow bunnies who nestle like clouds in the snow.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 3 In the mountain village where Mi-chan lives with her mother, snow falls heavily. Mother and daughter tramp across the fields to market, where a kind flower-seller gives the little girl a branch of red berriesjust the thing for putting eyes on the ``snow-bunnies'' Mi-chan has made by sticking green-leaf ears into rounded clumps of snow. There are occasional visual inconsistencies in the otherwise attractive watercolors: children may wonder why the heavy winter snow that has fallen on camellia blossoms has not damaged them, and a tree described in the text as ``bare'' is covered with pink buds. The market women are wonderfully garbed and shaped, yet Mi-chan's mother in her heavy cloak has little definition except as a brown blob. The story is the sort that appeals to listeners of age three or four: an excursion with mother, a gift, and the wonderfully imaginative creation, artfully illustrated, of ``snow bunnies.'' Somewhat less successful than the illustrations, the text is so colloquial that it occasionally seems out of tune with the very Japanese illustrations, a fault perhaps of the translation rather than the original. Mi-chan, for example, tells the flower-seller, ``At home I made these snow bunnies,'' and when the berries are offered, the flower-seller says, ``Since you're so sweet, you can have them for free.'' Still, the simple story will please many children, and it is a pleasure to find an accessible story reflecting another culture. Dudley B. Carlson, Princeton Public Library, N.J.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes
Text: English, Japanese (translation)

Customer Reviews

A soothing children's book for the winter.
The beautifully illustrated children's story of a young Japanese girl, Mi-chan, and her quest to find bright red eyes for the cute bunnies she made out of snow. Mi-chan walks through the lovely, soft snow with her mother to the local market. Here they purchase crabs to eat and little rice flour dogs to guard the house. Mi-chan receives a branch of pretty red berries for her snow bunnies. On the way home, they stop in the falling snow to bow in thanks at the stone statue of Jizo, the protector of children and travelers.

a simple story with lovely illustrations
The words are very simple, with just enough there to follow the tale. Most of the story is told in pictures, which makes it suitable for young children. The sparse language is nonetheless beautiful--and really, it makes it easy for children to feel at home in a story from another culture. Everything makes sense, even if little is explained. There is just enough to inspire curiosity and a sense of wonder and beauty.

The people are colorful and real, and the depictions of the market womens' stands are simply amazing. Crabs, snow, and flowers have never looked so wonderful. Color is used in exactly the right places. These are pictures that kids will love, and probably never forget.