I loved this book so much that I developed a Thematic Unit around it. The book has some of the most outstanding pictures one has ever seen. Through these pictures we get to see Japan's culture, customs, and landscape. The story is great too. Through this book I taught Reading, English, Math, Social Studies, Science, Art, and used the internet to go on a field trip. This is a wonderful book and keeps the reader guessing. Enjoy!

My son's third grade class has been studying Japan. They had a "Japan Day" with lots of Japanese activities. His teacher asked me to read this book to the class. I hadn't read it before and only one child had heard it. They loved it. I have come right home and am purchasing the book for our "library" right now. Highly recommended!

This is a very classic story from Nagoya region, I believe. Taro was as lazy as he can be. He wants to do nothing but laying on the tatami-mats and sleeping where he received his nickname, Three-Year Nap Taro. Pictures and story are full of Japanese culture and your children would like the twisted ending to learn being lazy is NOT good.

My 7 year old son loved this book! Each page reeled him in more: the sports day fun, the soldiers, the appealing black character, the bike tricks. He did not want the story to stop. It has been a long time since he asked me to re-read a book!!

Soon after World War II, in occupied Japan, two American soldiers (we don't learn why they're there or where they're headed) walk onto a Japanese school yard, and one of them delights the assembled students with bicycle-riding tricks. A charming vignette of the personal interaction between a pair of young men and a group of children, strangers with different languages and from different cultures, whose paths cross briefly and will never cross again. Doubly charming to me because my father, a young soldier, was there at the time, and could ride the bicycle backwards better than anyone I've ever met.

This autobiographical story of author Allen Say's discovery of Christmas is gentle and beautiful. A little boy in Japan (Say) wasn't supposed to play near the neighbor's carp pond, but he did, and fell in! Mother was a little mad at him, but she was preoccupied with making origami cranes. She put them on a tree that she brought in from the garden, and explained to her puzzled son that this was a Christmas tree. (She had lived in California as a girl.) The boy asked for and received a Samurai kite as a gift. He never forgot that day, because it was the first time he ever heard about Christmas.

This lovely story introduces children to a traditional Japanese family and to a child who experiences two cultures. The illustrations are quite unique and are almost shiny. The simple text is easy to read and children from 6-8 love this book.

I loved this book enough to, in pre-Amazon days, put in two special orders (both failed) through Crown Books and finally, after two years, find a children's specialty book store that could get it for me. It is the story of a small boy learning to obey his mother as well as the story of his first Christmas. The book's strength is its astonishing illustrations. The luminous pictures of the family's Japanese home, the small pine tree with the silver origami cranes and candles, and the emotion on the face of the little boy captivate my son, who is not yet two and a half. Even at his age, which is much younger than this book is intended for, he really responds to the poetic text, the relationship between the boy and his mother, his struggle to obey his mother and deal with her disapproval of his misbehavior, and the beauty of the tree of cranes. This is a peaceful and gentle text, and I am grateful that I can finally read my son this story that both helps to build his character and exposes him to the beauty and grace of Japanese form.

As a fan of Say's book "Grandfather's Journey", I am surprised that it took me so long to dip into Say's other wonderful books! "The Lost Lake" is a heartwarming tale of a father/son camping trip. Along the way the pair discover new things, both in nature and in one another. Say's well written story makes each of the son's emotions distinct and identifiable to readers of all ages: boredom, anticipation, excitement, disappointment, exhaustion and contentment. This book is an excellent read for children in the third grade and older. I plan to read it aloud to my fourth grade students to start an expedition-style math unit. I am certain it will become a popular book on our classroom book shelf!

The Luck Yak is an interesting and witty story about a family (of yaks) who immigrate to the U.S. It is written for children, but its theme is one for all ages... bloom where you are planted, or be careful what you wish for! The illustrations are superb!!

This is a wonderful book for anyone with grandkids. It could only have been written by someone who enjoys the art and ethic of catch and release fishing. In this simple but eloquent story the author, Allen Say, has captured the magic of flyfishing for trout and the need to release your "catch" unharmed. With three grandsons of my own I know this book will be read many times to each of our boys.

If only this classic book were back in print-not only is it a biography of George & Gracie, but it has several pages of pictures(many never before seen)as well as an appendix in the back giving the synopsis of every television episode from October 1950 thru September 1958. The book is a good alternate to Gracie-A Love Story written by George himself. On another note, if I may go a step further, why doesn't Nick-At-Nite pick up the series, surely it's been in syndication for about 40 years? It'd be great fun seeing them again-George, Gracie, their son Ronnie, Blanche & Harry Morton, & Harry Von Zell. Though they are quite dated, these shows are still screamingly funny today. Gracie Allen was the 2nd funniest woman in television, the 1st being the incomparable Lucille Ball. Highly recommended, especially if you are able to find it!

I thought the book was exceptional. It is simple in its own way, yet it can also be very thought provoking. The story covers such topics as love of country, war, happiness, disappointments, and adventure. It is a book that young children can enjoy in its simplicity and beauty but it can also be enjoyed by older children and adults in a reflective sort of way. The book also has beautiful illustrations which must be mentioned.

Allen Say's book is a sensitive and poignant story of a Japanese man who came to explore America around the turn of the century. Enraptured by the beauty of the country, he brings his bride to California and proceeds to build his life there. At times, however, he grows wistful for his homeland and longs to return. Finally, the desire to return to to his homeland overcomes him and he goes back to the small village where he was born. The years pass, his children grow up and have children, and he begins to long for the beauty of his second home, so he plans a trip. A war errupts, however, and he is never able to revisit the United States. Beautifully illustrated and sensitively told, Grandfather's Journey demonstrates the strong emotions evoked by one man's love for two countries and two cultures. The story also demonstrates that it is possible to love two countries equally well and to discover taht as soon as you are in one, you long for the other. The book also presents a refreshing retelling of Japanese-American relations. The book raises an awareness of the immigrant experience in a tone that is both simple and subtle.

Allen Say has combined his love of family history and his talent for evocative illustration to create this wonderful story to share with your own family! He retells his grandfather's story of immigration, imparting not only the wonder he experiences being in his new country, but also conveying the angst he feels at being away from his land of birth. These feelings are expressed exquisitely in the paintings which bring to mind photograhs of that period in history. In addition, there are many springboard opportunities for discussions. The photographic paintings elicit questions from your children that will begin conversations about methods of travel, different regions of our own country, differences between cultures, and differences between the time that is illustrated and the time we are living in now. A valuable book on so many levels, you will be glad you chose to share this with your children!