Satomi Ichikawa

On the edge of a forest, the fir trees are eagerly awaiting Christmas. Each has a plan for what they will wear to the Christmas party, but no one asks the littlest fir tree. When a truck arrives and takes the beautiful fir trees away, the littlest tree is heartbroken. Now she'll never get to dress up, but at least she's not alone. An old, bare tree was left behind too. Together the old tree and the littlest tree talk about their dreams and wait for Christmas. When Christmas arrives, the two show more tree friends are surprised to see their dreams come true.

The Bottom Line: This heartwarming, imaginative tale of friendship and hope is the perfect way to share storytime with your little one on Christmas Eve. Illustrated with luminous watercolors, Ichikawa's gentle tale will get you in the holiday spirit. Enthusiastically recommended for all.

This review also appears at the Mini Book Bytes Book Review Blog. show less

A little girl named Nora visits her grandmother. The room she stays in has a trunk full of toys that play with her in the night. Nora admires the stars in the sky so the toys bring them down for her to play with. But the sky looks sad and dark without its stars, so she puts them back (before Grandmother wakes up and finds out she’s still awake and playing)

This was one of my favorite books as a kid, for obvious reasons, which I’ve now passed down to my niece.. The watercolor (I think?) show more art is so beautiful and brings back so many memories. The story is simple but very imaginative and a little bit mischievous. I’m glad I got to reread it as an adult. show less

“My Father’s Shop” tells the story of Mustafa, a young boy, son to a shop owner in Morocco; one day Mustafa finds a rug in the shop and discovers a large hole in the center—his father tells him he can keep the rug since he loves it so much. Mustafa runs through the marketplace with the rug over his head, drawing attention from a rooster and in turn, the tourists in the market. As the rooster and Mustafa run through the streets, Mustafa hears the tourists refer to the rooster in their show more own respective languages; Mustafa hears Japanese, English, Spanish and more. As he runs back to the shop, the tourists follow, bringing business to his father. The plot is very simple and to the point, however the importance of Mustafa’s cultural lesson and exposure to different kinds of people in a make-shift melting pot is very valuable. The book is meant for very early readers, and it is a great introduction to multicultural literature, for its message and the influential illustrations. The illustrations are done in beautiful watercolor and appropriate the mood of the story. The big idea of the story is to promote a curiosity and open mindedness for languages and cultures that differ from your own. show less

This story of another living toy is nicely told and nicely illustrated. I'm always inclined towards watercolor illustration. The toy that felt unloved and so sets out on his own to find somewhere that he belongs is pretty common fodder for a children's story of this type, but the book was enjoyable. I'd share it with a child.