Product Description

An old bamboo cutter finds a tiny child in the hollow of a bamboo stalk. Thus begins the beloved story of the Moon Princess, whose unearthly beauty brings her fame and would-be husbands from throughout the land, but whose destiny shines far off in the sky. The delicate color and detail of Kancho Oda's illustrations, painted over half a century ago, create a mood of charm and mystery, admirably accompanied by the lilting verse of writer, translator, and lyricist Ralph F. McCarthy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #160545 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 48 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9784770020994
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review

"Exquisite color and movement."-Booklist
"A feast for the eyes, and a great introduction to Japanese folk tales." -The Daily Yomiuri
"Simple yet absorbing tale. These strong, recommended children's classics will please kids who love lively and unpredictable plots." -Children's Bookwatch
"Brimming with the familiar and great themes of loyalty, courage and generosity." -Asahi Evening News
"Sumptuous illustrations" -School Library Journal
"Would make an excellent gift for any child, in Japan and abroad." -Tokyo Today

About the Author

RALPH F. McCARTHY is a writer, lyricist, and translator from Michigan and California. Among his translations are another collection of stories by Osamu Dazai, Self Portraits, and 69 by Ryu Murakami.

Customer Reviews

Nicer than others
This is a traditional japanese story, that I chose because for a japanese language student is a very good way to practice comprehension skills. It is also a nice story cause it contains no fatal punishment for any deed like other similar stories do, it is about what lies mean and of filial love. Other stories, instead, like Sarukani, The monkey an the Crab, are full of cruelty, something that clearly reflects the mentality of an era, in which there is no space for forgivness and the only posible punishment is allways fatal, with a previous list of torturing actions. Anyway, any of this bilingual stories can be of great help to students of japanese, best if you are trying to acquire a broad vocabulary, it only requires the search of the respective kanji and you are done with it.

Two boys' review: Good book for children learning Japanese
We've used our copy to teach our children as well as to use for storytime in their school room. The book is well made, easy to follow, and affordable (look for Amazon's 4-for-3 promotion to save some money).

Check out my other Amazon.com reviews of kids' books.

A kids book that my kids dislike...
My wife bought this and one other Japanese children's book for our kids for Christmas, and none of my three kids enjoy this book. I will give you that the art is very well drawn, but this is simply not an enjoyable story for a young child. The story makes very little sense to a western 5 year old.

I'm not an expert on the Japanese language, by I do have several years of formal training in the language, and there were many parts of the translated story which were very suspect in the translator's word choice and pacing. Artistic license is one thing, this was kinda pushing it.

Overall, a book that will be useful to my wife who is currently studying Japanese, but not one my kids enjoy at all, so I feel we could have just as easily bought a random Japanese newspaper subscription for my wife and have been just as well off.