The Girl Who Loved Caterpillars
by Jean Merrill
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In this retelling of an anonymous twelfth-century Japanese story, the young woman Izumi resists social and family pressures as she befriends caterpillars and other socially unacceptable creatures.Tags
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Izumi refuses to act as society demands a young girl from a noble family should. Instead, she counts toads and seeds and especially caterpillars her friends as well as the scruffy boys who bring insects to her window. She insists on thinking for herself, and she won't blacken her teeth or pluck her eyebrows. Will her parents die of embarrassment as the whole town gossips about her? Slowly, she wins the grudging respect of those who are willing to look beneath the surface and see a girl who is clever and won't hide her gifts under society's rules.
I was surprised I enjoyed this period piece.A young Japenese girl who likens herself to caterpillars.She has a free spirit and sparks the attention of a nobleman.The story ends with endless possibilities of there two meeting again.
This would be a good book to use with grades 1-4. It could be used as an interactive read aloud with younger grades and as an independent read in older grades. This is a good book to use when talking about people having different interest and liking different things, but still being accepting of other and those around you.
Izumi resists social and family pressures as she befriends caterpillars and other socially unacceptable creatures.***SRC Quiz***
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A Child's Book Tour of Japan
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34+ Works 3,586 Members
Jean Merrill was born in Rochester, New York on January 27, 1923. She received an undergraduate degree from Allegheny College and a master's degree in English from Wellesley College in 1945. After graduation, she worked as an editor for Scholastic Magazine. Her first book, Henry the Hand-Painted Mouse, was published in 1951. In 1952 she received a show more Fulbright Fellowship to study folklore at the University of Madras in India. She later based several of her books on Asian folk stories including Shan's Lucky Knife, The Girl Who Loved Caterpillars, and The Superlative Horse, which won a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. Her other books include A Song for Gar, Blue's Broken Heart, and The Pushcart War, which won a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. She also wrote a dozen scripts for animated television adaptations of her work. The Toothpaste Millionaire was adapted for television in 1974. She died from cancer on August 2, 2012 at the age of 89. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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