Customer Reviews

Yoko's Paper Cranes

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I am an American citizen who has been living in Japan for the past 18 months and I was delighted when a friend sent this book to my daughter for her 4th birthday. I have been a fan of Rosemary Wells for years and this book did not disappoint me. Wells has created a delightful visual experience for the young reader through the use of traditional Japanese washi papers combined with her own bright and whimsical watercolors. Wells has also managed to show the special relationship that exists between a child and their grandparents and how traditions are passed down through generations. (In this case, Yoko's grandfather teaches her to fold paper cranes.) My own daughter is thousands of miles away from her grandparents in the United States, and I think that this book has shown her that love can cross all those miles.
As a parent and preschool teacher, I would recommend this book as a teaching tool about Japanese culture -- Wells has even included folding instructions for the paper crane. What a wonderful literacy link activity!

This book is charming and exquisitely illustrated. Elements of origami and Japanese printmaking enrich it visually, while the story is beautifully simple and affecting. It is one of my three-year old daughter's favorites, and my personal favorite among her many books. The story and pictures can be used as a starting point to explore the ideas of separation, travel, gift-giving, the seasons in nature, bird migration, and they even show the reader how to make paper cranes! It is superb.

This is a sweet story for kids -- especially if they are separated from their grandparents by distance. The paper cranes become symbols of family and cultural connections. Also, the richly colored illustrations and their elegant borders are amazing.

This is a great book for kids, adults, and origami lovers!

"Yoko's Paper Cranes" is another nice entry featuring Rosemary Well's anthropomorphic kitty character Yoko.

In this story, readers learn about Yoko's history as an immigrant from Japan. Yoko has a strong relationship with her grandparents and while she was in Japan, she and her grandfather enjoyed feeding the cranes out at the pond. Yoko learns about how the cranes fly away every year. When she is living in America, it comes time for her Grandpa's birthday, but she has no money to buy a present. She remembers the cranes and since it's winter in Japan, she creates origami cranes to send.

"Yoko's Paper Cranes" features soft, pastelish illustrations. According to the back cover page information, the artwork was created using "origami and washi papers, gold leaf, rubber stamps and paint." It's a pleasing combination that makes for illustrations that may appear somewhat simple at first glance, but are rich with life and warmth.

This story is a great story for parents or librarians to read for kids, or for anyone to read on their own. It's also a nice look into Japanese and Japanese-American culture that is not anyway insulting or insensitive.

This is a wonderful book- both because of the gorgeous artistry, which tries to evoke traditional Japanese style arts, as well as for the tender but simple story. My 2 year old loves hearing this story and looking at the pictures, which are really just wonderful. The story of remembrance and love in the family, intertwined with unveiling the art of origami and the metaphor of nature- it's a book I really enjoy reading too because of the fact that my grandparents also lived in Asia and I could rarely see them.

I love Yoko series because I am from Japan! The book is so cute! The shipping was very fast, too. Thank you!

Rosemary Wells is a masterful maker of character, story and creator extraordinaire of a world for a child. I cannot as a teacher praise her enough. Yoko, the darling kitten that brought sushi to my first grade and a way to talk to cultural differences in the foods we eat, along with those bad doggy Franks, is back here again in this story. But this is a story away from the classroom, reaching into the telling of an immigrant story. In the end America, the immigrant nation, is strengthened by the sharing with children of our roots, our families, our ventures into the here and now, and so we imagine with Yoko, to learn about a little one that has come here from Japan. To understand differences and love, missing, rememberance, to understand what it is to go.

The story opens with Yoko recalling her grandmother and father. Obaasan and she look at the cranes that stay only a short while, and she is learning that yearly they will return. With Ojiisan she learns the art of making paper cranes in her waiting, as well as other delightful forms...and so Yoko when she leaves to America comes to a time she writes and wants to send a gift for the birthday of her grandmother. She folds three cranes and sends them enclosing them with the message that one day, she too will return. As the book ends with Obaasan sipping her green tea, snow falling.

It's so touching I kind of have to shed my tear.

Yes, every young child of tender heart and calm clear mind should have this along with the other wonderful Yoko stories.Yoko (Yoko and Friends-School Days)Yoko's World of Kindness: Golden Rules for a Happy ClassroomYoko Writes Her Name It's a wonderful gift to a classroom. Be sure and consider it for a teacher you hold dear.

This is a three-generation book - I, my Japanese mother, and my daughter think this book is a treasure. The story of being separated from loved ones by distance is one many of us can relate to, but Rosemary Wells outdoes herself with her stunning artwork created with richly-colored Japanese papers, stamps, and gold ink. Simple sweet story and fabulous artwork.

My daughter has had this book since she was 5; she's 8 now and still loves it. She is just as excited to give it away for a gift as she is to read it to her Japanese Grandma!

A beautiful book with great illustrations. A sensitive exploration of cross cultural differences. Teaches acceptance of new ways.