One Leaf Rides the Wind [Hardcover]

Celeste Davidson Mannis (Author), Susan Kathleen Hartung (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: P and up

A young girl makes her way slowly through a Japanese garden where she spots one leaf, two carved temple dogs, three miniature bonsai, and four startled birds. This counting book introduces the youngest readers to the beauty and hidden secrets of a Japanese garden. It also introduces haiku, with ten poems that are simple and straightforward. The rhythmic haiku appear in a context that will make perfect sense to young readers. Each page contains additional information about the scene shown, and with lush illustrations, the loveliness of the garden can't be ignored. This is a picture book that works on many levels.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A Japanese girl in a rust-colored kimono tours a temple garden and counts its fixtures one to 10, accompanied by newcomer Mannis's haiku poetry. The book's elegantly spare design fits its Zen-influenced theme: a watercolor on the left, framed in a white border, faces a haiku on the right. The girl reaches for a drifting maple leaf in the first spread ("One leaf rides the wind./ Quick as I am, it's quicker!/ Just beyond my grasp") and Hartung (Dear Juno) places her squarely at the garden's entrance. As she admires bonsai ("a miniature forest"), views a pagoda (with its "five roofs [that] stretch to heaven") and drinks tea in a teahouse, the artist fills in details that trace her pathway before the girl lies down beside a lotus-covered pond: "What do flowers dream?/ Adrift on eight pond pillows,/ pink-cheeked blossoms rest." Notes in smaller type below offer more information (lotus blossoms "represent purity and mirror the soul's ability to reach beyond muddy waters to the sunlight of a better existence"). Little birds and a saucy cat accompany the girl through gently tinted, sweetly stylized paintings. The last spread shows the entire garden, revealing the girl's progression through it. Mannis's haiku act as both a guide to some of the elements of traditional Japanese culture and a useful introduction to the haiku form. Hartung's watercolors combine areas of finer draftsmanship with simple washes; in the artist's hands, the landscape becomes a series of meditative images. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-This counting book, which follows a Japanese girl as she explores a traditional garden, offers an introduction to haiku and aspects of Japanese culture. The child finds one leaf, two carved dogs flanking the entrance to a temple, three pots of bonsai trees, four startled birds, five tiers on the roof on a pagoda, six sandals outside the teahouse, seven sweet cakes, eight lotus blossoms, nine koi fish, and ten stone lanterns. A double-page panoramic view of the garden at the end allows readers to find and count the objects again. Three lines of haiku are used for each number. Accompanying each poem is a brief paragraph explaining, for example, why a pagoda has five roofs or describing an aspect of the tea ceremony. The book as a whole is elegantly and respectfully presented and the counting aspect is especially well crafted, capturing the meandering focus of a small child. Mannis's simple verses are complemented by Hartung's pleasing and evocative pen-and-ink and watercolor art.
Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Viking Juvenile (September 16, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670035254
• ISBN-13: 978-0670035250
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,779,044 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Counting to ten in a Japanese garden through haiku, January 4, 2003

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: One Leaf Rides the Wind (Hardcover)

It makes sense to adopt a non-traditional definition of haiku for this counting book that looks at the hidden secrets of a Japanese garden. So what is impressive is that the haiku in this volume follow the traditional five-seven-five syllable pattern. "One Leaf Rides the Wind" combines the haiku poems of Celeste Davidson Mannis with the illustrations of Susan Kathleen Hartung, created using oil paint glazes on sealed paper as we follow a young girl as she counts her discoveries in and about a garden. To help young readers to understand that Japanese gardens are places that encourage visitors to look within themselves to find peace and tranquility, this beautiful volume includes notesa bout Japanese religion and philosophy. This is how we learn about the shih tzu dog statues that guard gardens and temples as well as the sweet treats that are part of a traditional Japnese tea ceremony. "One Leaf Rides the Wind" is a lovely little counting book because it does so much more than simply provide ten different things for children ages 4-8 to count; it also introduces them to the aspects of another culture that should inspire them to further explanation (and which even inspires some reviewers to use haiku to express their own joy over this book).

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Gorgeous!, September 21, 2002

By 

skh "spinky3" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Leaf Rides the Wind (Hardcover)

This book has it all! Beautiful words, pictures and more. It is a misnomer to pass this off just as a counting book. It is poetry, it is art, it is entertainment and it is educational too. What a thrill to be able to sound so knowledgeable about Japanese gardens when asked questions by my little one, thanks to the very discreet information portions of each well designed page. The best part was the final image where we could see the whole garden and recount our journey while counting up all the elements gathered together in a single beautiful painting. Don't miss out on this one! It will be enjoyed for years.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Took my breath away, September 18, 2002

By 

ROB LAUB (lakewood nj) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Leaf Rides the Wind (Hardcover)

Took my breath away
my son giggled smiled laughed
this book is a treat