Six days to Christmas, are you getting ready for the holiday weeks? Here in Bologna it already snowed once earlier in December. My son still plays outside but much less. All the more days to stay inside and to read books!
Last month, our Japanese children's book collection was greatly expanded. Thanks to a new Japanese friend of mine whom I met at the book reading session in the city's library I previously talked about, we were invited to a semi-closed Japanese children's book fair held at the Far-Eastern Art Study Centre of Bologna.
Allegedly, it was a rare occasion that the centre was giving away some of their children's literature collections at a bargain price as their library was getting overloaded by books annually donated by Japanese publishers come to the Bologna Children's Book Fair.
It was really a cold and cloudy day and I had no way of leaving my son with anyone but taking him with me on the twenty minute bike ride to get there, but I did it, and glad I did! We came back with a bag filled with twelve books we found there, some of them were pristine as brand-new, some others were marked with stickers or stamps but in great condition.
Anyway, I would say this book is the very first book he selected by himself as he would not leave it from his little hands all the time. As soon as I saw this book I actually knew he would love it, because he is crazy for cars. If I show him cars passing by our home from the window he always stops crying, and he carries his toy cars everywhere he goes; to the park, to the dining table, to the bathroom, and to the bed.
What makes this book truly attractive, even for toddlers, is its simplicity in the illustrations and narration. Yet, it is really fun to read aloud as cars in red, blue, yellow, and green march around while beeping different sounds unique to each of them. The book came to my son very timely as he recently learned to recognize and to say some colours like yellow, red, and blue in Japanese.
The more I read this book with him, the more I found the illustrations attractive. No wonder why, the book was illustrated by a famed Japanese textile designer who once worked for Finnish textile company Marimekko.
