While I was on vacation in Hawaii, spring arrived in my valley in southern Oregon. During my absence we had some much needed rain, and so the countryside is finally turning a beautiful soft green. Though fall and winter are my favorite seasons, I always love watching and feeling the changes that take place as we transition from one season to another.
Today I bring you a picture book that I found quite charming. The main characters in the narrative are sweet, the artwork is a delight, and the text is touched with beautiful imagery, as you can see from the quote below.
"Tap, tip, tap, trrr . . .
Came the snow-melted water
It sang as it joined into one stream
A nightingale's voice trembled like a dream."
Kazuo Iwamura
Picture Book
For ages 5 and up
NorthSouth, 2019, 9780735843455
One morning the squirrel children wake up to discover that the snow of winter has gone. Their father explains that every year “The snow returns to the sky.” Sure enough, in the sky, the children see white puffy clouds. They also notice something else; they hear water dripping and little streams running. As they watch, the little snow that is left on the ground is turning into “a babbling brook.”
Eager to find out where the water goes, the squirrel children follow its path until they come to stream. A log is floating in the stream and the children climb onto it. The snow melt “sang as it joined into one stream,” and a nightingale added its voice to the music of the wakening forest.
The log, with its three little passengers, floated down the stream, which then emptied into a large lake. There the children were, tiny little creatures sitting on their log in the middle of a lake, seemingly all alone.
In this special picture book Kazuo Iwamura pairs his wonderful illustrations with a rhyming text that captures the magic of the changing seasons. The little squirrel children discover that they are witnessing something that, though it happens every year, is still awe inspiring and beautiful. Some of the lines in the narrative truly lift the spirit with their imagery.
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Kazuo Iwamura was born in Tokyo in 1939. He studied at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, and started his career as an illustrator for children’s television programs. He is the author and/or illustrator of dozens of popular books. Mr. Iwamura is one of the most famous picture book artists in Japan and his work has won many awards. He lives in Tochigi, where he founded the Museum for Picture Book Illustrations. It stands on a hill named Ehon-no-Oka, which means Picture Book Hill.
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