Chirri & Chirra, Underground

by Kaya Doi (Created by), David Boyd (Translator)

Overview

Chirri and Chirra go underground in this charming addition to the Chirri & Chirra series!
Behind a hole in their basement wall, Chirri and Chirra discover a network of tunnels. Join them as they visit moles, discover caves full of glowing flowers, poke at the roots of growing plants, traverse a subterranean lake, and spend the night with a family of badgers! The fourth book in the Japanese Chirri & Chirra series, this underground adventure is sure to charm and delight.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781592702442
Publisher:	Enchanted Lion
Publication date:	07/02/2019
Series:	Chirri & Chirra Series , #4
Edition description:	Translatio
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	338,293
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	3 - 8 Years

About the Author

Born in Tokyo, Japan, Kaya Doi graduated with a degree in design from Tokyo Zokei University. She got her start in picture books by attending the Atosaki Juku Workshop, held at a Tokyo bookshop specializing in children's books. Since then she has created many picture books featuring her delicate color-pencil drawings. She lives in Chiba Prefecture and maintains a strong interest in environmental and animal welfare issues. Since the earthquake of 2011 she has been active in recovery and shelter efforts for abandoned pets.

David Boyd holds a master’s degree from the University of Tokyo and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University. His translations have appeared in Monkey Business International, Granta, and Words Without Borders, among other publications.

Editorial Reviews

"In this Japanese import, the winsome, bike-riding twins from Chirri & Chirra in the Tall Grass (2017) are back for another gently surreal adventure... The twins are identical, with black pageboys, dot eyes, pudgy, rosy cheeks, and Mona Lisa smiles; their delight in the wonders they encounter is pure, unquestioning, and totally infectious. Another charmer." —Kirkus Reviews
"This Japanese import is sweetly magical and perfectly in tune with children’s acceptance of the fantastic. Smudgy colored-pencil illustrations are aglow with light and color, whimsically whisking readers along with the rosy-cheeked twins." —Booklist
★ "Another delightful adventure with the adorable twins Chirri and Chirra. ... The gorgeous, fresh colored pencil drawings portray a world of harmony between the girls and the animals. The animals have a fairy-like quality that is very appealing." —Stephanie Tournas, Youth Services Book Review
”A soft, sherbet-hued realm of kindly animals, cozy dens and delicious edible treats awaits in “Chirri & Chirra, Underground” …Like the other Chirri and Chirra books, this one will earn rapturous scrutiny from readers ages 3-8.” —Meghan Cox Gurdon, The Wall Street Journal
"unique and highly recommended..." —The Midwest Book Review
"The soft-edged illustrations in colored pencils, pastels, and crayons are filled with details that will have readers wanting to pause and take a closer look." —School Library Journal, Lucia Acosta, Children’s Literature Specialist, Princeton, NJ

"Chirri & Chirra is an utterly charming series of children’s picture books...low on the angst scale and high on the charm meter. Doi is known for her softly styled drawings on rich creamy paper. She creates the illustrations in these books with colored pencils, pastels, and crayons, crafting them to give an old-world feel, a time of innocence and simplicity. The exquisite art radiates joy and has a dreamy quality to it that reflects how children imagine their ideal world to be. These delightful books are a welcome escape for young children from their anxieties." —International Examiner

From the Publisher

06/21/2019

PreS-Gr 2-In this new installment about Japanese twins Chirri & Chirra, the girls are on the trail of the mysterious intruders who have made a hole in the wall of their pantry. Hopping onto their bicycles, they follow an underground tunnel. Along the way they come across a subterranean peanut farm where a host of moles is busy harvesting and roasting the peanuts. After consuming "Two cones of peanut soft-serve, warm and fresh as can be," they are back on the trail. Later the girls find an underground flower garden tended by mayflies that gift them with "flower hats in just the right size." Eventually, they find the trespassers: a trio of infant badgers. To make amends, the badger parents take them to their home across a lake, to a bountiful meal of fried root vegetables and blue soup, a card game, a nap, and finally a new tunnel specially made to lead the girls back to their own home. The soft-edged illustrations in colored pencils, pastels, and crayons are filled with details that will have readers wanting to pause and take a closer look. VERDICT A charming book recommended for most picture book collections.-Lucia Acosta, Children's Literature Specialist, Princeton, NJ

School Library Journal

2019-04-28
In this Japanese import, the winsome, bike-riding twins from Chirri & Chirra in the Tall Grass (2017) are back for another gently surreal adventure.

"Dring-dring, dring-dring!" Upon hearing mysterious noises from the cellar, Chirri and Chirra hop on their bikes and pedal into a hole they find dug into one of its walls. They come across "an underground peanut farm" worked entirely by industrious moles, who harvest, shell, roast, and package the legumes. After enjoying "two cones of peanut soft-serve, warm and fresh as can be," Chirri and Chirra are off again, stopping in "an underground flower garden" tended by mayflies and pedaling beneath a vegetable garden—parsnips, a turnip, leeks, carrots, and beets can be seen in cross-section—before finding their quarry: three badger children who took a wrong turn into their cellar and their parents. The badgers lead them to an underground lake for a boat ride before offering them a meal of "fried root vegetables" and "blue soup" and finally digging them a new tunnel up into the pink dawn. Doi employs her trademark approach, soft colored pencils on textured paper giving the illustrations the cozy appearance of lithographs, a mood furthered by the book's diminutive trim. The twins are identical, with black pageboys, dot eyes, pudgy, rosy cheeks, and Mona Lisa smiles; their delight in the wonders they encounter is pure, unquestioning, and totally infectious.

Another charmer. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews