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Summary
Summary
One day in 1914 when Soichiro Honda was seven years old, an astonishing, moving dust cloud appeared in his small Japanese town. The cause was a leaky, noisy automobile-the first the boy had ever seen. At that moment Honda fell in love with cars, and a dream took hold. He would one day make them himself.
It took Honda many years to reach his goal. Along the way he became an expert mechanic and manufacturer of car parts. After World War II he developed a motorized bicycle, the forerunner of his innovative motorcycles. Eventually Honda began manufacturing cars, first race cars and then consumer cars. Constantly seeking ways to make his products better than his competitors', Honda grew into a global industry leader.
Soichiro Honda had an inventive mind and a passion for new ideas, and he never gave up on his dream. A legendary figure in the world of manufacturing, Honda is a dynamic symbol of lifelong determination, creativity, and the power of a dream.
This is Katie Yamasaki's first book.
Author Notes
Mark Weston is a former attorney, journalist, and Jeopardy! contestant. He is now a full-time writer. He lives in Armonk, New York.
Katie Yamasaki is a fine artist, muralist, and teaching artist in the New York City public schools. Yamasaki lives in Brooklyn, New York. To learn more about Katie Yamasaki, visit her at www.katieyamasaki.com.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-This picture-book biography follows the life of Soichiro Honda, born in 1906, from his beginnings as a boy working in his father's smith shop to his international success as a manufacturer. Weston's writing is clear and accessible, even to those who might not know any automotive lingo. The book reads like a story, with fictionalization of Honda's thoughts and dialogue and emphasis on his persistence and ingenuity. Yamasaki's acrylic illustrations dominate each page. At first glance they seem representational, but on closer inspection readers will find little men climbing on the engine parts and pieces of machinery swirling up into the air like dust, miniature cars going around a globe and down Honda's arm, and figures on tiny motorcycles on mountains as a backdrop to modern, colorfully clad men and women riding on the road. Yamasaki's creative composition makes the pictures interesting and dynamic. There has been very little published about Honda for children. This story takes a step toward filling that gap.-Donna Cardon, Provo City Library, UT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
(Primary) This picture book biography outlines the life of Japanese automaker Soichiro Honda, born in 1906. Son of a blacksmith and a weaver, Honda fell in love with cars after seeing a Ford Model T, and by age fifteen he was already working in a garage. As his own repair business grew, he invented and manufactured a better piston ring, designed and built motorcycles, and eventually built a car -- the Honda Civic. Weston does a good job of explaining some of the mechanical details and focuses almost entirely on Honda's career, with only brief clues to his temperament or personality. Yamasaki's acrylic paintings fill each page and combine the potentially sterile machinery with inventive elements, such as miniature figures working on the full-size cars. In one picture, she depicts Honda floating on cylinders across the skies as he invents the piston ring. There is no list for further reading, since this is the first biography of Honda for children, but there is a list of sources at the front. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Soichiro Honda was, in his own way, the Henry Ford of Japan. He became fascinated by automobiles from his very first sight of a Model T. Determined to learn everything possible about cars, he began as a cleaner in a garage and eventually became an expert mechanic with his own business. Later he designed racecars and manufactured car parts and airplane propellers. After World War II, he developed small motorcycles and started the Honda Motor Company, constantly adding improvements and innovations to his products and then designing and manufacturing fuel-efficient automobiles. Weston presents Honda as a perfectionist, an innovator in his field and a model corporate leader, who encouraged his workers, listened to them and treated them well. However, with the exception of a list of retirement activities, Honda's life beyond business is nowhere to be found. Yamasaki's detailed and whimsical acrylics add zest to the proceedings. A worthwhile introduction to a neglected subject. (author's sources, afterword) (Picture book/biography. 7-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Rightly noting that people today may never have heard of Soichiro Honda, but almost everyone knows his last name, Weston presents the first stand-alone biography for young readers of this Japanese blacksmith's son, who fell in love with cars the instant he first laid eyes on one in 1914. He went on to become a mechanic, inventor, race car driver and, of course, a tycoon. Yamasaki helps to keep the tone light with fanciful painted illustrations that depict her subject set amid flying car parts and streams of tiny automobiles and motorcycles. Honda is neatly portrayed as someone who was smart enough both to stay in touch with his employees (it was a worker's suggestion that convinced him to go with water-cooled rather than less powerful air-cooled engines) and take early retirement. Though a demanding boss, Honda was not so much a driven, Olympian business leader, but rather a human being who found his bliss early on and stuck with it through thick and thin.--Peters, John Copyright 2008 Booklist
