Customer Reviews

Ten Oni Drummers

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One oni after another rise out of the sand in this delightful book by Matthew Gollub. In this book, the oni are not so much terrible and fierce, but endearing and protecting. They play their Japanese drums (taiko) to ward off any evil in their path. A brief history of the oni, the taiko, and kanji (Chinese characters that were adopted in written Japanese) appears at the end of the book, and a chart is included for those eager to learn to write the kanji.

The illustrations by Kazuko Stone, are bright and cheerful and show the imagination that went into the making of the book.

Kazuko Stone illustrates Ten Oni Drummers, a Japanese story of a young boy who falls asleep on the beach in Japan, awakening in the night to find onis who play taiko drums loudly to chase away his bad dreams. A warm story of gentle monsters who help.

One by one, ten colorful ogres pound their drums, chasing away a child's scary dreams at night. As daylight comes, the ogres slip back into the sand, ready to return when scariness is at hand. Stemming from Japanese folklore, this book includes end notes about Japanese ogres and drums, oni and taiko, as well as Japanese characters, kanji. Children ages 3-6 will enjoy this cultural counting book about the rhythms of the night.