Japanese Celebrations: Cherry Blossoms, Lanterns and Stars! [Hardcover]

Betty Reynolds (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2006 | Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up

The people of Japan love to celebrate! In fact, they love it so much they have a day of celebration, whether it's a change in season, a religious observance, or just a special moment in life, every month of the year. Brimming with ancient traditions, exotic decorations, and delicious, seasonal foods, Japanese Celebrations will take you on a month-by-month tour of some of Japan's best-loved festivals.
Beautifully illustrated and full of fascinating facts about Japanese holidays and celebrations, this 48-page picture book offers a vivid picture of some of Japan's most festive events including New Year's, Children's Day, Cherry Blossom Season, Harvest Moon Viewing, Christmas in Japan and many more.

With simple but informative text and illustrations that explain the significance of the dress, decoration, food, gifts and activities associated with these events, Japanese Celebrations promises to delight and educate young readers and parents alike.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-3–After a brief general introduction, events are listed chronologically, with a single descriptive paragraph or a sentence or two of explanation. The first celebration of the year is O Shogatsu (New Year). Colorful illustrations show people participating in worship at temples and shrines, with a spread describing symbols of good luck and special foods. Other traditional pastimes are shown as well, such as card games and kite flying. An example of the zodiac calendar, which follows a 12-year cycle, is included. Other well-known festivals include Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival, or Girls' Day), Kodomo-no-hi (Children's Day), and O-Bon (Festival of Souls). There are several brief examples of regional festivals as well. A small section on Other Happy Events includes traditions for babies and a page on weddings. Japanese words and terms are listed phonetically and in Japanese characters (hiragana). Food, dress, activities, simple Japanese words and phrases, and origami folding are briefly touched on. Simplistic illustrations add festive touches, but the ethnicity of the people depicted isn't all distinctly Japanese. While this book has breadth, it suffers in depth. Most of the festivals are included in greater detail in Rena Krasno's Floating Lanterns & Golden Shrines: Celebrating Japanese Festivals (Pacific View, 2000), for a slightly older audience.–DeAnn Okamura, San Mateo County Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

By the writer-illustrator of Tokyo Friends (1998) and Squeamish about Sushi (2000), this profusely illustrated book presents celebrations enjoyed by Japanese children. Reynolds, who lived in Japan for seven years, begins with O Shogatsu (Japanese New Year). A double-page spread explain how the holiday is observed and shows a child's preparations before entering a temple. The next introduces symbols and special foods connected with the holiday, and the third looks at traditional holiday pastimes. The presentation continues through the seasons, highlighting each special day or festival with a single captioned painting or several illustrated pages. In each case, words appropriate to the occasion appear in Japanese characters as well as transliterations. A guide to pronouncing the terms used in the text is appended. Occasionally, a craft, activity, or song appears in this colorful, child-friendly book. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing (January 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804836582
• ISBN-13: 978-0804836586
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 10.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #114,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Content great, but there are Japanese mistakes, November 21, 2011

By 

Perogies & Gyoza "Medea" (Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Japanese Celebrations: Cherry Blossoms, Lanterns and Stars! (Hardcover)

This is a great introductory book for children to Japanese celebrations, from Oshogatsu (New Year's) to 7-5-3 and everything in between'(including some neither I nor my husband knew about, like Kanbutse, Buddha's Birthday). The illustrations are great, really cute without going overboard (a real possibility in Japan!). This book is aimed at older kids but I think that like mine, those with a background in Japan could understand it from an earlier age as a read-aloud book.

I do have to say, that I was somewhat annoyed at the errors in the Japanese text. The hiragana for monkey and sheep (saru and hitsuji, respectively) were mixed up, and they accidentally translated row (a boat) as fight. I wouldn't use this as a Japanese language introduction for a child. I got this from the library and I don't know if a newer version would have corrections or not.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Japanese Celebrations: Cherry Blossoms, Lanterns and Stars!, May 6, 2007

By 

Susan Elizabeth Erdt (Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Japanese Celebrations: Cherry Blossoms, Lanterns and Stars! (Hardcover)

A beautiful book. Betty Reynolds is an American who was a keen observer while living in Japan. Her illustrations are wonderful and she covers the whole year and includes a lot of Japanese words (with pronunciations and explanations). There is so much information packed into a very easy to read and beautiful format. I highly recommend any of Betty Reynolds' bookds to anyone who wants to understand Japanese culture or who is studying Japanese.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cute and Colorful, December 1, 2010

By 

KittyTatiana - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Japanese Celebrations: Cherry Blossoms, Lanterns and Stars! (Hardcover)

This is a great book for any age. It has lots of wonderful pictures with easy to read information. I saw this book when I was living in Japan and was very excited to find it on Amazon when I came back to the States.