Japanese and English Nursery Rhymes: Carp Streamers, Falling Rain and Other Favorite Songs and Rhymes (Downloadable Audio of Rhymes in Japanese Included)

by Danielle Wright, Helen Acraman (Illustrator)

Overview

"Fifteen rhymes, one per spread, celebrate the changing seasons, flora and fauna, and idyllic rural life, providing an enchanting window into a culture that cherishes its close relationship with nature. […] This collection holds appeal for anyone interested in the country and would be a wonderful addition to an international-themed storytime.--School Library Journal"

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781462913732
Publisher:	Tuttle Publishing
Publication date:	03/26/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	18 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Danielle Wright first began collecting nursery rhymes for her young son in 2005. In 2008 she created the award-winning multilingual book My Village: Rhymes from Around the World. Danielle has taught English to children in Japan and currently runs an at-home writing, public relations and editing business. She lives in New Zealand with her husband, two children and two cats.

Helen Acraman is a New Zealand artist living in Toronto, Canada. Her whimsical graphic works reflect a passion for environmental issues, natural living and the childlike quality that lives in everyone. Together, they wrote Korean Nursery Rhymes: Wild Geese, Land of Goblins and Other Favorite Songs and Rhymes, also available from Tuttle Publishing.

Table of Contents

Hometown (verse by Tatsuyuki Takano)

The Roly-poly Acorn (verse by Nagayoshi Aoki)

The Village Festival (verse by the Japanese Ministry of Education)

Chorus of the Raccoons (verse by Ujou Noguchi)

Falling Rain (verse by Hakushuu Kitahara)

Little Red Bird (verse by Hakushuu Kitahara)

Bubbles (verse by Ujou Noguchi)

Train (Anonymous)

Come Spring (verse by Gyofuu Souma)

Carp Streamers: (verse by Miyako Kondo)

The Seagull Sailors (verse by Toshiko Takeuchi)

Snow (verse by the Japanese Ministry of Education)

The Rabbits' Dance (verse by Hakushuu Kitahara)

Moon (verse by the Japanese Ministry of Education)

The Cradle Lullaby (verse by Ujou Noguchi)

Editorial Reviews

The 15 Japanese nursery rhymes in this gentle collection include two types: traditional Warabe Uta rhymes and comparatively modern Doyo verses. The nursery rhymes are printed in Japanese text and characters, and are also translated into English. Acraman’s graphics combine a polished digital aesthetic with playfully anthropomorphic characters, including three stylized birds perched on a tree (“Little bird, red bird/ Why oh why so red? Because it ate a red fruit”) and endearing rabbits wearing “hachimaki” bandannas. Accessible verses and bright, welcoming pictures should have cross-cultural appeal while aiding in language learning. Includes a CD recording of the songs performed both in English and Japanese. Ages 4–8.

Publishers Weekly

"I'd pair this book of Japanese nursery rhymes with All About Japan. It comes with an audio CD which is an easy way to expose kids to the Japanese language and culture."—PragmaticMom.com

"Acraman's graphics combine a polished digital aesthetic with playfully anthropomorphic characters, including three stylized birds perched on a tree and endearing rabbits wearing "hachimaki" bandannas. Accessible verses and bright, welcoming pictures should have cross-cultural appeal while aiding in language learning."—Publishers Weekly

"They include authentically childlike celebrations of rabbits dancing, carp streamers "swimming happily in the air" and falling rain. There are also wistful memories of "My Hometown" and a festival song that begins, 'Our village guardian god's generosity / Is what we celebrate on this joyous day / Boom boom, whistle whistle'."—Kirkus Reviews

"Fifteen rhymes, one per spread, celebrate the changing seasons, flora and fauna, and idyllic rural life, providing an enchanting window into a culture that cherishes its close relationship with nature. [...] This collection holds appeal for anyone interested in the country and would be a wonderful addition to an international-themed storytime."—School Library Journal

"The spacious format gives the art a chance to perform its magic. Pure saturated colors—honey yellows, tomato reds, and heavenly blues—are the backdrops for pictures that have the effect of woodcuts. The poems themselves showoff the charm and delicacy Wright discusses in her introduction."—Booklist

"Danielle Wright first began collecting nursery rhymes from around the world for her son in 2005. In this colorful collection of fifteen verses, she includes an audio CD with children and parents singing along in both Japanese and English. Helen Acraman's delightful illustrations perfectly complement the songs and bring them to life."—The Children's Book Review

From the Publisher

PreS-Gr 2—Fifteen rhymes, one per spread, celebrate the changing seasons, flora and fauna, and idyllic rural life, providing an enchanting window into a culture that cherishes its close relationship with nature. Readers need not be familiar with Japan to savor these songs. The author's introduction gives the origins of the selections and presents a clear overview of the three Japanese writing systems. A helpful pronunciation guide assists those new to the language, and occasional footnotes explain cultural references in the song lyrics, such as the significance of carp streamers on Children's Day. The nursery rhymes appear in an easy-to-read format that boosts language comprehension during sing-alongs, with each line printed in Japanese characters, romanized Japanese, and English. Children will pore over the brightly colored illustrations that evoke a warm, inviting image of the country. Vivid, graphical artwork in the style of modern woodblock prints depicts happy children and endearing animals while incorporating Japanese motifs such as tiled-roof houses, kimonos, and tanuki (raccoon dogs). The accompanying music CD is vital to this book's enjoyment as it teaches the tunes and aids in pronunciation. The audio recordings are pleasant, gentle renditions in both Japanese and English. This collection holds appeal for anyone interested in the country and would be a wonderful addition to an international-themed storytime.—Allison Tran, Mission Viejo Library, CA

School Library Journal

Fifteen short, simple songs in Japanese and English seem to be designed more for language practice than actual sharing. The poems are presented line by line in Japanese characters (three different kinds are used, though only one per poem), a phonetic transcription and a loose but clunky and unrhymed English translation. They include authentically childlike celebrations of rabbits dancing ("Come see, come see the adorable dance / Hoppedy hop, hoppedy hop"), carp streamers "swimming happily in the air" and falling rain ("Picchi picchi chappu chappu / Splish splash, splish splash"). There are also wistful memories of "My Hometown" and a festival song that begins, "Our village guardian god's generosity / Is what we celebrate on this joyous day / Boom boom, whistle whistle." On an accompanying CD, tracks identified only by numbers alternate Japanese and English performances of each entry (the former sounding far more natural than the latter), sung in very high voices over solo guitar accompaniments. There is no printed music. Acraman's art is more toddler-friendly than the lyrics, with plenty of muted but distinct colors and simple, blocky forms. The Japanese versions' bouncy rhythms are lost in translation, and even hopes for the sort of cultural insights that folk poetry affords go unfulfilled, since nearly all of the selections are attributed to modern lyricists and composers. (Bilingual nursery songs. 1-4)

Kirkus Reviews