The Seven Gods of Luck

by David Kudler, Linda Finch PhD, Aprn-BC (Illustrator)

Overview

May the Seven Gods of Luck visit you!

Sachiko and Kenji just want to welcome the new year in the proper way, but their mother tells them they don't have the money for a New Year's feast.

An act of generosity brings help from an unexpected source in this heartwarming Japanese classic.

Fifteenth anniversary edition with new notes by the author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781938808005
Publisher:	Stillpoint/Atalanta
Publication date:	10/28/2012
Edition description:	2nd Anniversary ed.
Pages:	38
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.08(d)
Lexile:	700L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

David Kudler is an author, editor, and performer. He has published the first two books in his award winning historical young-adult adventure series Seasons of the Sword (Risuko and Bright Eyes) and is hard at work on the third.He is the editor-in-chief of Stillpoint Digital Press, publishing over eighty titles by twenty authors. He has edited many of Joseph Campbell's works, including the first new edition of the seminal Hero with a Thousand Faces since the author's death.A native of Sausalito, California, he lives in Mill Valley with his wife, teacher and author Maura Vaughn, their two author-to-be daughters, and their (apparently) non-literary cats.

Editorial Reviews

Kudler's first children's book offers a rather thin retelling of a Japanese folktale centering on two resourceful siblings and set on January first (the day "everyone in Japan celebrates a birthday, no matter when they were born!"). When their mother tells Sachiko and Kenji that she has no money for the holiday feast, the children try to sell homemade hair pins and hand-painted chopsticks to get money for the meal. The two find no customers, but trade their wares for straw hats they then place on statues of the Seven Gods of Luck to shield them from the snow. Predictably, the stone statues come alive to bring the youngsters the makings for a celebratory feast. Although Kudler explains that the Seven Gods offer "good fish to bring harmony, and black beans for health," readers may be disappointed not to learn more about the holiday and its relevant symbols. Finch's (Night Walk) two colorful market scenes add spice, but the majority of pictures are rendered in neutral grays and browns (including the double-page spread of the feast: beige-yellow "golden bowls" covered with the straw hats and not a hint of their contents). Except for what youngsters glean from the foreword, they will likely come away from this retelling with little understanding of the holiday or its significance for the Japanese. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

K-Gr 3A lively adaptation of a Japanese folktale. When their mother returns home on New Year's Eve without money to buy a traditional feast, Sachiko and Kenji take a few small possessions into town, hoping to sell them in the market. Walking through the falling snow, the siblings pass the Seven Gods of Luck. Brushing snow off these statues brings them no luck in the market, so they exchange their items for the inventory of an old hat-seller. On the way home, they clean the statues once more and place hats on their heads "to keep them warm and dry." This act of kindness reaps a generous reward. Yoshiko Uchida's The Sea of Gold and Other Tales from Japan (Macmillan, 1965; o.p.) contains a more traditional version of the story, in which an elderly man is the protagonist. The well-paced, carefully plotted text has a sprightly partner in its stylized, gently colored illustrations. Figures are set against ample backgrounds that celebrate the fabric designs and folk art of Japan. Economical in their expressionsthe tilt of a head, the lift of an eyebrow conveys a great dealthe pictures of the children will appeal to readers.Margaret A. Chang, North Adams State College, MA

School Library Journal

The kindness and generosity of two children result in a great reward for them at New Year's in an unusual fable set in Japan.

Sachiko and her brother, Kenji, are saddened when their mother comes home empty-handed on New Year's Eve, so they decide to try to sell some hairpins and chopsticks they have made, in order to buy rice for their meal. On their way, they pass the Seven Gods of Luck—life-sized statues exemplifying virtues like wisdom, long life, and beauty—and dust the snow off them. They can't sell their things, but do trade wares with an old man, so that they can all go home for the night. They procure six straw hats that they attach to the statues—upon the seventh Sachiko bestows her scarf—to keep the gods free from snow. Their gesture prods the gods to give the family a fabulous New Year's meal in seven pots. Kudler's first book is predictable, but does reveal the stark simplicity of this Japanese household, and provides a window into traditions and daily life. Although two paintings show the children with the very wares that they have already traded away, Finch's watercolors are well done and innovative in composition, and manage to present fresh details of an unfamiliar culture in every picture.

Kirkus Reviews