Condon interviews women of all ages and walks of life--from geishas to students to rural farmworkers to businesswomen--to give a complete picture of the female native Japanese experience. She gives brief explanations and commentaries about social convention and background, and then steps out of the way and lets the women tell their own stories, so that by the end of the book you really feel acquainted with Japanese life and culture.

This book is just plain wonderful. What I thought about as I read it was how I wish someone would have exposed me to a book like this when I was a child. The beautiful illustrations, bright and capturing the spirit of each poem, pull one into the page, set the young reader in the right direction. Then the words of each poem take the reader beyond, to that wonderful place words create inside, with the intensity only poetry can create among words. If taken as a whole, the reader will find it to be a complete journey of a child's urban environment, from looking out to the city bellow in Langston Hughes' "City," on to the crowded streets, in and out of the park, the playground and the bustling workers, back to home again, and the end of another day with a "Manhattan Lullaby" by Norma Farber. The reader discovers that the poetry goes beyond the images brought to mind, to create feelings, a sense of motion while also a sense of serenity and of being in the perfect spot. The book works in so many ways to give opportunity to seeing the beauty of the city and we the people that create it. It is a beautiful collection that works to expose and enhance the young child's perception of poetry and inspire those so inclined to create their own verse.