From School Library Journal
Grade 1–3—An author's note explains that in 17th- and 18th-century Japan, provincial governors were required to divide their time between Kyoto, home of the Emperor, and Edo (modern Tokyo), where the Shogun exercised temporal power. Accompanied by numerous retainers, these feudal lords frequently traveled the 300-mile Tokaido Road, stopping at inns and teahouses built to accommodate their retinue. A famous series of woodcuts by Japanese printmaker Utagawa Hiroshige, depicting the landscapes they traversed, inspired Whelan to imagine this journey as seen through the eyes of Yuki, a governor's young daughter, who travels with her mother and small dog. Their party, with its 1000 carriers, passes over a river, through snowy mountains, and beside the ocean, where Mt. Fuji rises in the distance. Yuki describes the sights she sees through the shuttered windows of her
palanquin, as well as the food and accommodations along the way. The haiku she writes at the request of her teacher are interspersed throughout the first-person narrative. These brief poems chart her homesickness and eventual acceptance of change. The handsome, well-composed watercolor illustrations, executed in subtle shades and reminiscent of Japanese woodcuts, lend specificity to the tale. A useful supplement to curriculums focusing on Japan.—
Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Part of the Tales of the World fiction series, this picture book draws on seventeenth-century Japanese history, traditional art, and haiku poetry to tell the story of a young child on a 300-mile journey between the cities of Kyoto and Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Yuki hates leaving her home in Kyoto, but when the emperor summons her father, she and her mother must go, too, accompanied by more than 1,000 carriers. Award-winning illustrator Nascimbene stays true to Yuki’s childish perspective as she follows the family’s journey along the narrow path over the mountains and along the river and the sea. Accompanying the simple prose narrative, are haiku, one or more on each double-page spread, that express intense feelings in clear, casual words: “Once outside the gate / how will I find my way back? / Will home disappear?” Children will recognize Yuki’s longing, and then her joy when she’s able to stop looking back. Grades 1-3. --Hazel Rochman
