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Summary
Summary
Chirri and Chirra go on an imaginative adventure where they discover the small overlooked mysteries of the natural worldIn their second adventure to reach the US market, Chirri & Chirra become very small, and so are able to explore the magical world hidden away in a mound of tall grass. Filled with friendly, industrious bees and equally inventive bugs, this is a book that brings the lovely particularity of life in Japan--marked by food and nature--to young readers here.
Author Notes
Born in Tokyo, Japan, Kaya Doi graduated with a degree in design from Tokyo Zokei University. She got her start in picture books by attending the Atosaki Juku Workshop, held at a Tokyo bookshop specializing in children's books. Since then she has created many picture books featuring her delicate color-pencil drawings. She lives in Chiba Prefecture and maintains a strong interest in environmental and animal welfare issues. Since the earthquake of 2011 she has been active in recovery and shelter efforts for abandoned pets.
Yuki Kaneko was born and educated in Japan. She is a sculptor, a translator, an urban naturalist, and a botanist. She works on New York City's High Line and lives in Brooklyn with her family.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The identical-looking girls from 2016's Chirri & Chirra are back, riding their bicycles ("Dring-dring, dring-dring!") into the tall grass of a nearby meadow, and emerging much smaller than before. This new perspective allows an up-close view of the lives of small creatures who they follow home: bees offer the girls freshly baked "honey sponge cake balls wrapped in flower petals" and, later, they cook up fluorite candies with a lizard. The language is straightforward, but Doi's gauzy images revel in the details described. It's a delicious vision of the rewards of curiosity, exploration, and having the freedom to chase adventures wherever they lead. Ages 2-8. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
From the very first words of this second adventure (Chirri Chirra, rev. 1/17), the tone is blithely affirmative. In an illustration that precedes the title page, little rosy-cheeked, dot-eyed cyclist Chirra mentions that the grass in the meadow has grown tall. Almost-identical Chirri agrees. Off goes the pair on their bikes, dring-dring, dring-dring! As they ride along, they shrink until the clover arches over them like trees and the bumblebees are the size of their heads. As in their previous jaunt into the world of flowers and insects, all creatures are benign, welcoming, and given to sharing elaborate refreshments. Its as if the girls have been expected. Theyre curious, says one shiny green beetle. They are, agrees another. The sweetness of this world of green and gold is cut by specificity and oddness. The beetles are flower chafers who offer freshly squeezed mixed-leaf juice, with yumberry fruit and raspberry pulp. The bumblebees make honey sponge cake balls wrapped in flower petals. Gentle grainy illustrations on creamy paper show us that the lizard lives in a cave of crystals; the text specifies the sparkling facets as fluorite; the fluorite gets turned into candy. As the creatures invite the girls inside their homes, so the illustrations invite the reader inside, to a world of miniatures, hospitality, and the freedom to head off on your bike for a whole long afternoon. sarah ellis (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Following their eponymous opening adventure (2016), unflappable Japanese twins Chirri and Chirra return for another serene, sylvan outing. It begins when they ride their bikes into a patch of tall grass, shrinking to the size of insects as they do. When they emerge, they find themselves dwarfed by sprigs of white clover, from which a bumblebee collects honey in two large baggies. They follow it to its nest in a hillside, peeking in through a hexagonal window to a charming kitchen in which the bee and her companion make honey sponge cake that they share with the girls. They then follow a flower chafer to its house, where the beetle gives them "freshly squeezed mixed-leaf juice with yumberry fruit and raspberry pulp." Off they go again, bells ringing "dring-dring," after a friendly lizard, who invites them in to make candy. The idyll, depicted in soft, smudgy colors that have the look of lithographs, plays out in cozy, single-page illustrations in a slightly smaller-than-typical trim. There is no sense of danger or even discontent, just a warm, green world that opens itself up to the twinsand when they re-emerge by their house in the firefly-lit twilight to find their candy suddenly gone, there are no tears. Whether readers decide it's all imaginary or not is irrelevant; they will love every moment, regardless. Utterly charming. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
New York Review of Books Review
Turning the pages of the "Chirri & Chirra" books, imports from Japan, feels like falling into a tiny, exquisite dream. This latest one has a wintertime theme and a mochi-colored palette. The adorableness is off the charts as the rosy-cheeked twins head out on their bikes and find the usual talking animals, sweet treats and other early childhood wish-fulfillment items (marbles, hand-held lanterns, a shelf of colorful books). This outing, on the first day of snowfall, takes them to an ice structure teeming with fun, then on to a cosy igloo for the night. GOODBYE AUTUMN, HELLO WINTER Written and illustrated by Kenard Pak. 32 pp. Henry Holt. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 6) Pak's follow-up to "Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn" once again bids adieu to a departing season and greets the new one, delightfully. A girl and a smaller boy walk through the pages saying hello, heading out of fall scenes and into snowy winter ones, listening as trees, birds and animals explain what they're doing to get ready for the cold. Soon, frost and snowflakes are pointing out their roles in the stunning wintertime scenes. Pak's ethereal digital art creates a wintry mood that somehow combines movement with seemingly endless serenity. THE SNOWBEAR By Sean Taylor. Illustrated by Claire Alexander. 32 pp. words & pictures. $17.95. (Picture book; ages 3 to 6) Waking up to snow, a brother and sister rush outside to make a snowman. It turns out to be more of a snowbear - and thankfully so, because they take off down the hill on their sleds and meet a wolf. Their snow creation saves them, then returns to his spot near the house. Naturally their mom doesn't believe them, but the next morning the snowbear is gone. Did he melt, or... ? The story rides the edge between reality and magic with gentle aplomb; Alexander's loose, free-spirited art makes the magic feel quite possible. MICE SKATING By Annie Silvestro. Illustrated by Teagan White. 32 pp. Sterling. $16.95. (Picture book; ages 3 to 6) Field mice are supposed to spend the winter burrowing and huddling underground, but little Lucy would rather be out in the bracing cold. She can't convince her mouse friends to join her, until she finds a way to get them to follow her to the pond for ice skating. Silvestro's simple story is heavy on cheese puns likely to sail past younger listeners, but White's charming illustrations, with their miniaturist sensibility and cosy wood-toned textures, will have little ones hunting through the pages for details of the field-mouse lifestyle and decor. SNOW SCENE By Richard Jackson. Illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. 32 pp. Neal Porter/Roaring Brook. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 8) This fourth book from the former children's editor Jackson romps around outdoors, its few, coy words inviting readers to look harder at the lovely textured acrylic paintings by Seeger ("First the Egg," Green"), a two-time Caldecott Honor winner. We begin in the deep of winter, when a coat of snow renders everything worthy of a second glance - is that the shadow of a crow? Frost in a girl's hair? Each page turn tells a fuller story. As in life, eventually we're in rich springtime scenes, straightforward as a sunny day. But a final page leaves us, appropriately, with the lingering memory of winter. online An expanded visual presentation of this week's column at nytimes.com/books.
