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Loading... The Big Bath House (2021)by Kyo Maclear, Gracey Zhang (Illustrator)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This book is about the author’s memories of her time spent in Japan. Where big group baths are common. This story is lovingly told and would be fantastic at story time if Americans weren’t such small minded people who bring shame to everything. Because this book has illustrations of naked women. It’s not to glorify and it’s not to be lustful. It’s to say bodies are human, bodies are normal. And that being around others bearing your body is culturally relevant. This book is wonderful and it’s such a shame that some kids will never get to read it. ( ) Recommended by Lauren B. A young girl travels with her mother to Japan, where they join the girl's grandmother (Baachan), aunties, and cousins in the big bath house, where they wash and scrub and soak. This cozy story with cadence and repetition normalizes female bodies of all ages. See also: Bodies Are Cool by Tyler Feder The author shares a sweet memory of visiting her grandmother and other relatives in Japan and going to a communal bathhouse as a family activity. I've read a lot of manga, so I'm familiar with how traditional, common, and casual public bathing is in Japan, but I have to wonder how soon before some uptight, overprotective parent here in America challenges this book for the full-frontal nudity depicted despite its terrific celebration of body types of all ages. I do wish it were made more clear in the story that the author's character doesn't actually speak Japanese and that everything occurs through a language barrier. (Another project! I'm reading all the picture books and graphic novels from NPR's Books We Love 2021: Kids’ Books list.) no reviews | add a review
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Soon after a young girl arrives in Japan, she, her grandmother, her aunties, and some cousins celebrate cultural traditions together while visiting a bath house. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813Literature English (North America) American fictionLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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