Chibi: A True Story from Japan

by Barbara Brenner, June Otani (Illustrator), Julia Takaya

Overview

When Oka-san, a brown-and-gold duck, selects the Mitsui Office Park as the perfect spot for her nest, people flock from downtown Tokyo to watch the ducklings hatch. A modern-day Make Way for Ducklings, set in Japan.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547562650
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/22/1999
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	64
Lexile:	810L (what's this?)
File size:	49 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Barbara Brenner, the author of both fiction and nature books for children, is an active member of Bank Street College of Education. Ms. Brenner and her husband, the artist Fred Brenner, live in Hawley, Pennsylvania.

June Otani was a children’s book illustrator and printmaker. She passed away in 2012.
 

Julia Takaya is a teacher and writer. For most of the year, Ms. Takaya and her husband live in Tokyo.

Editorial Reviews

Brenner and Takaya tell the true story of a wild duck family in a thoroughly civilized setting. A mother duck chooses the pool in front of a Tokyo office building as a good place to build her nest. Ten ducklings hatch, swim, and grow, much admired by the people who gather to watch them, including an elderly photographer. One day, the mother duck decides to lead her brood to a new home, the moat in the Emperor's Gardens. The caring photographer risks his life to stop traffic on the eight-lane avenue as the ducks step off the curb on their way to the moat. The second chapter concerns the duck family weathering a flood. Charming ink-and-watercolor pictures illustrate the book. Although there are echoes of "Make Way for Ducklings" here, this longer and more episodic story will appeal to older children. Some third-and fourth-graders will enjoy reading the book on their own, though the main audience is probably in the read-to-me stage.

Carolyn Phelan