Flowers are blooming and birds are singing.
It’s spring everywhere but it’s still pandemic. How I wish we could go on a picnic to the beautiful parks or on the hillsides.
Lately, Bologna was re-designated as the “orange zone” but we are not yet allowed to gather with wines and panini in public areas.
But hey, I had a book that brings me picnic vibes. It’s one of the series of this iconic children’s literature born in Japan in the 60s and now translated in many languages.
The protagonists are little twin mice, Guri, always dressed in blue, and Gura, dressed in red, respectively (that’s how we recognize which one is who!). In this book, they go on a picnic with tons of food they had prepared for lunch.
I love this book. For example, it makes me giggle that they set the alarm at twelve for lunch, and when Guri says “now it should be lunch time already,” the clock still ticks ten.
To wait another two hours they start jogging and then go into a little adventure in the woods. As I proceed through the book, I feel their excitement and lively way of passing time to wait for something they look for (the lunch!).
I myself have read two books of the Guri and Gura series in my childhood including this one. In the other book they make an experiment in cooking a giant egg found in the woods.
Each book is gifted with many elements that can make little readers thrilled, and that was exactly what the author wanted when she first came up with the story of these mice. Formerly being a kindergarten teacher, she wanted to tell her students stories that would make them thrilled.
There are many other series and spin-off books of Guri and Gura. One day, I want to read them all with my son!
In the meantime, I cherish this book I had brought from my parents’ home in Japan. It's nicely aged with spots and a bit ragged. This is the edition printed in 1988 and my parents had probably got it for me when I was three or four.
I don’t remember if my mother had ever read it to me but I remember reading it a lot by myself. So truly, it was one of my favourite books when I was a little girl.
What about the other books? I have no idea where they went. Maybe we gave them away. In any case, this book may be the only one my family kept from my childhood that I can pass to my son.
It’s also one of the few Japanese books I have at our home in Italy at the moment. Written like a song with playful narratives, a perfect book to soothe him.
Before I go, here I share with you a photo of my favourite park in Bologna where I want to picnic one day, hopefully it will happen by the time my son starts walking!
About today's book
Guri to Gura no ensoku
Written by Rieko Nakagawa
Illustrated by Yuriko Yamawaki
Published in March 1983 by Fukuinkan Shoten Publishers
Also published in English as Guri and Gura's picnic adventure and in many other languages
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