Great for introducing a tiny bit of Japanese culture and language. ( )

Author and Illustrator Annelore Parot creates the story 'Kimono'. The book helps show the reader a little bit a world they may not be familiar with Japan's culture. Parot teaches readers about Japan's popular kokeshi dolls. Kokeshis are little wooden dolls made in Japan. Parot use these wooden dolls dressed in kimonos for her colorful and simplistic art style. What makes this different from most other books about kokeshis is that it asks the reader to find where the right kimonos go, or the featured kokeshi doll among the many. There are other games throughout the book that asks the user to use association and other deductive skills to locate one piece or another. There are panels, four page spreads, and cutouts that make use of these little activities to help the reader find the answer to questions while seeing some of Japan's culture. ( )

Picture book ( )

This book takes us to Japan. It shows the day in a life of Japanese family life, their schools, and what kind of clothes they wear. Illustrations represent Japanese art and include flaps.

This book was more of an interactive book than a picture book story. I learned that Kokeshi's are wooden Japanese dolls which wear kimono's. Kimono's are worn by Japanese people but most Japanese people prefer regular western style clothing. Even though there was no story, I did learn some Japanese words and what kimono's are. ( )