Mai and the Missing Melon

2023 Freeman Book Awards “Of Note” title in Children's Literature

An exploration of Japanese food, culture, and history that celebrates the special relationship between a child, her grandmother, and the power of kindness, for kids 3-7, by the author of Japanese Home Cooking, Sonoko Sakai.

This charming story invites the reader on a journey through rural 1960s Japan following a little girl named Mai on the Enoden train, past the oceanside populated with fishers, and to the classic shrine-like...