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Rating: 
Summary: I haven't seen a children's book this lovely in a while
Review: A gorgeous book with glorious illustration. If this is based on a traditional story, it's not one that I've heard before. It kept me entirely engrossed while I read it. There is more than fairy-tale depth here, particularly as obstacles to the traditional happy ending keep showing themselves. Very satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: beautiful illustrations; thoughtful warm story for any age
Review: Even though I love the Little Critter series, my favorite book of Mercer Mayer's has always been East of the Sun, West of the Moon with it's colorful and detialed illustrations. With this new book, Mercer Mayer worked with a Mac computer and I am AMAZED with the rich textures and warm realistic quality. No cool technical stuff here...this story too is from the heart and magical!
Rating:
Summary: Mercer Mayer's found a new way!
Review: Even though I love the Little Critter series, my favorite book of Mercer Mayer's has always been East of the Sun, West of the Moon with it's colorful and detialed illustrations. With this new book, Mercer Mayer worked with a Mac computer and I am AMAZED with the rich textures and warm realistic quality. No cool technical stuff here...this story too is from the heart and magical!
Rating: 
Summary: Another beautiful book by Mayer
Review: I highly recommend this book to any fan of Mercer Mayer's work or to a fan of Japanese culture. Although Mayer admits in the note in the book that this story is not based on any known Japanese folklore, it reads just like a folktale should and has enough of a Japanese flavor to make it acceptable to at least Western readers. (I wonder what a Japanese reader would think.) However, the real star of the book is the illustrating. Mayer is excellent at capturing moments from the story in a single illustration, incorporating many elements into a composite that is itself a story. I would recommend his rendition of "Beauty and the Beast" as a further example of this. The style is rich with color and texture, and each illustration has balance and dynamic symmetry. He pays as much attention to the background and the borders as he does the foreground and the main action. You can delight in a small detail like the pattern of the emperor's kimono, or how each of the many kites flying at the end of the book is different.Mayer also dared to do all the illustrations for this book on a computer, using Adobe Illustrator and a variety of other software. I am impressed with the result, although a few minor things bug me about some of the illustrations. For instance, in a few spots, objects in the distance appear to be sharper, more in focus, then objects in the foreground. It seems to me that this should have been addressed before publishing the book as it goes against our normal way of seeing. But that aside, I commend Mayer for trying his illustration skills in a new medium, and admit that Mayer on a bad day is still wonderful to look at. The minor glitches with the illustrations, and the fact that the story could have been a bit more poetic, keep this book from getting five stars. Still, it is worth buying. It is a beautiful book.
Rating:
Summary: Another beautiful book by Mayer
Review: I highly recommend this book to any fan of Mercer Mayer's work or to a fan of Japanese culture. Although Mayer admits in the note in the book that this story is not based on any known Japanese folklore, it reads just like a folktale should and has enough of a Japanese flavor to make it acceptable to at least Western readers. (I wonder what a Japanese reader would think.) However, the real star of the book is the illustrating. Mayer is excellent at capturing moments from the story in a single illustration, incorporating many elements into a composite that is itself a story. I would recommend his rendition of "Beauty and the Beast" as a further example of this. The style is rich with color and texture, and each illustration has balance and dynamic symmetry. He pays as much attention to the background and the borders as he does the foreground and the main action. You can delight in a small detail like the pattern of the emperor's kimono, or how each of the many kites flying at the end of the book is different. Mayer also dared to do all the illustrations for this book on a computer, using Adobe Illustrator and a variety of other software. I am impressed with the result, although a few minor things bug me about some of the illustrations. For instance, in a few spots, objects in the distance appear to be sharper, more in focus, then objects in the foreground. It seems to me that this should have been addressed before publishing the book as it goes against our normal way of seeing. But that aside, I commend Mayer for trying his illustration skills in a new medium, and admit that Mayer on a bad day is still wonderful to look at. The minor glitches with the illustrations, and the fact that the story could have been a bit more poetic, keep this book from getting five stars. Still, it is worth buying. It is a beautiful book.
Rating:
Summary: beautiful illustrations; thoughtful warm story for any age
Review: My 8 year old and I read it together and it was a moving experience for both of us. She is reading chapter books now and we both miss the kind of picture book stories that we had enjoyed so much. At any age, it's nice to sit down with a good story. The combination of the gorgeous illustrations and the thoughts about family and devotion in this story was magic. As a bonus, Mercer Mayer talks about his childhood growing up in Honolulu, Hawaii and how he learned about race and "melting pots" as a child. Congratulations on a wonderful book, Mr. Mayer! Get the book and read it with a child.
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