Customer Reviews

Japanese Celebrations: Cherry Blossoms, Lanterns and Stars!

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

With great drawings, this light text proceeds through the seasons of Japan explaining the holidays. References to food, culture and customs are made throughout. Great way to learn about Japanese celebrations.

I chose this book because it had hiragana, romaji, and english and looked promising. It was. They also have sheet music styled musical notes (one song) with both english and japanese lyrics. I wish they had more songs and holidays though. I took japanese in high school and know that there are more than covered. Nicely done and worth the current price of ten - eleven dollars.

I bought this for my two school-age daughters who are half-Japanese. I read this book to them for bedtime sometimes. I get some education on Japanese holidays too, and I'm Japanese. Great book!

I bought this for my son but, I was so impressed with it. We just moved to Japan and it has so much information in it about everything not just festivals but other traditional things as well.

The book that I ordered was SUPPOSED to have 48 PAGES. The book that I recieved in the mail ONLY has 16 PAGES. I have emailed the seller and I have not heard from them. They sold me a book that is NOT supposed to be sold, it says so on the in side the cover. I called Barns and Noble and they said that it is a copy for book stores to review before they buy many copies. I paid for a incomplete book!!!!! Very disappointed!

IF I had gotten the whole 48 page book, I believe that it would have been a really great book to teach students about the many different holidays that are celebrated in Japan. That is what I was going to use it for but since all of the pages were not there I could not use the book. I'm sure that if I had the full 48 page book I would have given it five stars and a better review.