Chibi: A True Story from Japan

by Barbara Brenner, June Otani (Illustrator), Julia Takaya

Overview

When Oka-san, a brown-and-gold duck, selects the Mitsui Office Park as the perfect spot for her nest, people flock from downtown Tokyo to watch the ducklings hatch. A modern-day Make Way for Ducklings, set in Japan.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547562650
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	03/22/1999
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	64
Lexile:	810L (what's this?)
File size:	49 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Barbara Brenner, the author of both fiction and nature books for children, is an active member of Bank Street College of Education. Ms. Brenner and her husband, the artist Fred Brenner, live in Hawley, Pennsylvania.

June Otani was a children’s book illustrator and printmaker. She passed away in 2012.
 

Julia Takaya is a teacher and writer. For most of the year, Ms. Takaya and her husband live in Tokyo.

Editorial Reviews

Brenner and Takaya make a bold move, opening this volume with a well-known scenario: a mother duck flies through the air, surveying the ground below for a spot to build a nest. Here and in several subsequent spots, including scenes in which the matriarch and her brood march in single file along a sidewalk and waddle across a busy street with the help of a policeman, the narrative and Otani's passable watercolor-and-ink illustrations closely echo Robert McCloskey's classic Make Way for Ducklings. Yet this more expansive tale, told in two chapters, has its setting in Tokyo. There the duck and her offspring, especially the diminutive Chibi, become media darlings. Their story, a true one, takes a dramatic turn when floods cause the death of one duckling and Chibi is lost, eventually reappearing "balanced like a surfer on a piece of Styrofoam." Smoothly integrating Japanese vocabulary into their account, the authors offer a welcome glimpse of bustling contemporary Tokyo. Ages 5-9. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 2-4-This true story is reminiscent of Robert McCloskey's Make Way for Ducklings (Viking, 1941), but it's set in modern Japan. When a duck nested beside the pool of a downtown office building to raise her young, the citizens of Tokyo became intrigued. The smallest duckling, Chibi, became the favorite of many, including the photographer Sato-san. He took it upon himself to look out for the ducks' safety. When a terrible storm upset the calm of their newly discovered sanctuary in the moat surrounding the Imperial Palace, Chibi and two other ducklings disappeared. The people searched and worried, but happily Chibi turned up unharmed. To protect the family, gardeners built a strong duck house that still floats in the moat of the Imperial Gardens. The ducklings, depicted in watercolor and ink, have plenty of personality as they splash, dive, and learn to play follow the leader. The scenery is faithful to the city and its people. There is a one-page glossary of Japanese words used in the text. Teachers searching for curricular connections to Japan will be pleased by this offering, and it will appeal to animal lovers as well, perhaps even inspiring a visit to a local pond habitat.-Susan Middleton, LaJolla Country Day School, CA

School Library Journal

Brenner and Takaya tell the true story of a wild duck family in a thoroughly civilized setting. A mother duck chooses the pool in front of a Tokyo office building as a good place to build her nest. Ten ducklings hatch, swim, and grow, much admired by the people who gather to watch them, including an elderly photographer. One day, the mother duck decides to lead her brood to a new home, the moat in the Emperor's Gardens. The caring photographer risks his life to stop traffic on the eight-lane avenue as the ducks step off the curb on their way to the moat. The second chapter concerns the duck family weathering a flood. Charming ink-and-watercolor pictures illustrate the book. Although there are echoes of "Make Way for Ducklings" here, this longer and more episodic story will appeal to older children. Some third-and fourth-graders will enjoy reading the book on their own, though the main audience is probably in the read-to-me stage.

Carolyn Phelan