Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen (Jasmine Toguchi Series #1)

by Debbi Michiko Florence, Elizabet Vukovic (Illustrator)

Overview

*A fun activity included in every book!*

A Junior Library Guild Fall 2017 Selection
An Amazon's Best Children's Books of 2017
A Beverly Clearly Children's Choice Award Nominee
An Evanston Public Library's 101 Great Books for Kids List 2017
A Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Books 2017
A 2017 Nerdy Book Club Award Winner
A We Are Kid Lit Collective 2019 Summer Reading List Pick

The first book in a new chapter book series featuring a spunky Japanese-American heroine!

Eight-year-old Jasmine Toguchi is a flamingo fan, tree climber, and top-notch mess-maker!

She's also tired of her big sister, Sophie, always getting to do things first. For once, Jasmine wishes SHE could do something before Sophie—something special, something different. The New Year approaches, and as the Toguchi family gathers in Los Angeles to celebrate, Jasmine is jealous that her sister gets to help roll mochi balls by hand with the women. Her mom says that Jasmine is still too young to join in, so she hatches a plan to help the men pound the mochi rice instead. Surely her sister has never done THAT before.

But pounding mochi is traditionally reserved for boys. And the mochi hammer is heavier than it looks. Can Jasmine build her case and her mochi-making muscles in time for New Year's Day?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374308346
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	07/11/2017
Series:	Jasmine Toguchi Series , #1
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	45,534
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	560L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Debbi Michiko Florence is the author of nonfiction books for children in the Kaleidoscope Kids Series, China and Japan. She is a third generation Japanese American, and many of her ideas for the Jasmine Toguchi series come from family experiences. Debbi lives in Connecticut with her husband and their two ducks, Darcy and Lizzie. Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen and Jasmine Toguchi, Super Sleuth is her fiction debut.

Elizabet Vukovic received her MFA from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California. She specializes in children's book illustration, but enjoys experimenting with character design, concept art, fashion illustration, and decorative art. She currently resides in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She illustrates the Jasmine Toguchi series, including Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen and Jasmine Toguchi, Super Sleuth.

Editorial Reviews

*A January Amazon Prime Box Pick!*

"Jasmine, the 8-year-old Japanese-American heroine of this charming chapter book, wants to help make mochi, a sticky rice dessert. When she's told that only men can pound the rice, she decides to convince everyone that she can do it. In this first of the series, readers get a plucky heroine, an easy-to-follow plot, a warm cast of extended family members and, at the end, a recipe for mochi." —The New York Times Book Review

"Jasmine Toguchi [is] so spunky she’d run circles around Ramona Quimby." — Parents.com

"Florence paints a lovely picture of a warm, extended family whose members truly care about one another and take each other seriously...New readers thirsty for series fiction will look forward to more stories about Jasmine and her family." —Kirkus Reviews

"This first entry nicely balances humor with the challenges of growing up; readers will devour it." —School Library Journal

"...an adorable and heartwarming story about a kid who wants to feel special and do something first for once, along with a nice overview of a Japanese New Year celebration."—Booklist

"Florence warmly traces Jasmine’s efforts to get strong (and fast), her clashes and tender moments with her family, and the ins and outs of making mochi (a recipe is included). Vukovic’s b&w spot illustrations evoke Japanese Sumi-e painting while playfully capturing Jasmine’s willfulness and her family’s closeness." —Publishers Weekly

"The Toguchi family’s warmth and affection for one another will leave readers eager to spend more time with them."—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"This first in the series handily introduces a plucky, strong-willed girl whose family traditions may be new to many readers but whose frustrations will be familiar to nearly all. Humorous illustrations help young audiences picture the mochi-making process, which is further explained in an author’s note. Also appended: a recipe for 'microwave mochi.'" —The Horn Book

From the Publisher

06/05/2017
Jasmine Toguchi’s Japanese-American family is once again gathering to make mochi to celebrate the new year, but the eight-year-old isn’t allowed to help pound the mochi: she’s too small, too weak, too young—and a girl. Florence (the Dorothy and Toto series) warmly traces Jasmine’s efforts to get strong (and fast), her clashes and tender moments with her family, and the ins and outs of making mochi (a recipe is included). Vukovic’s b&w spot illustrations evoke Japanese Sumi-e painting while playfully capturing Jasmine’s willfulness and her family’s closeness. Simultaneously available: Jasmine Toguchi, Super Sleuth. Ages 6–9. Author’s agent: Tricia Lawrence, Erin Murphy Literary. Illustrator’s agency: Shannon Associates. (July)

Publishers Weekly

06/01/2017
Gr 1–3–Jasmine Toguchi is anticipating the arrival of her family members for the New Year in sunny Los Angeles. Every year to celebrate, Jasmine's relatives spend all day making mochi, Japanese sweet rice cakes. Jasmine will have to wait two more years before she can assist with the mochi-tsuki, or mochi-making, with her grandma and aunties. Pounding the rice with the mochi hammer is a difficult feat that's reserved for the men in the family. But fearless Jasmine is determined to be the first girl and first person under 10 to help with the New Year preparations. Obaachan, Jasmine's grandmother, encourages her to be patient, while mean cousin Eddie relentlessly taunts the girl. In this new early chapter book series, Florence introduces readers to a bright character who is grappling with respecting authority while also forging her own path. Vukovic's illustrations are expressive and imbue Jasmine and the Toguchi family with sweetness. VERDICT This first entry nicely balances humor with the challenges of growing up; readers will devour it.—Claire Moore, Manhattan Beach Library, CA

School Library Journal

2017-04-17
Eight-year-old Japanese-American Jasmine Toguchi is tired of having to follow in the footsteps of her older sister, Sophie, who gets to do everything first.The extended Toguchi family gathers each year to celebrate New Year's Day. Some, like mean cousin Eddie and his family, just have to drive down from San Francisco. But beloved Obaachan flies all the way from Hiroshima, Japan. Sophie and Eddie, being the older cousins, are excited about the roles they will play this year, namely to help out with the preparations for mochi, a sweet and sticky rice dessert that traditionally is pounded by the men of the family and shaped by the women. This strikes Jasmine as unfair, so she sets out to prove to her family that she is strong enough to join in the task herself. She takes it upon herself to strengthen her muscles with weight lifting (with the baby cousins!) and hanging by her arms, but nothing seems to work. It's a thin plotline with little tension, but to populate it, Florence paints a lovely picture of a warm, extended family whose members truly care about one another and take each other seriously. Black-and-white sketches, liberally sprinkled through 13 short, easy-to-read chapters, help make the story understandable for the newest readers. Children looking for a window into a Japanese-American family and its New Year's customs will surely find one here. Book 2, Jasmine Toguchi, Super Sleuth, publishes simultaneously and perhaps will more fully develop its plot now that this effort has introduced the characters. A recipe for mochi is included. New readers thirsty for series fiction will look forward to more stories about Jasmine and her family. (Fiction. 5-9)

Kirkus Reviews