Review by Booklist Review
If you've ever met children who proclaim with confidence that they are dogs or vacuum cleaners or robots, you will understand the sensibility of Sato the Rabbit, which begins, "Haneru Sato became a rabbit. He's been a rabbit ever since." That explanation ushers in seven adventures of four double-spreads each. First, there's a tiny pond that blows water into a hose so that Sato can water his garden. Then, from an observatory, Sato catches stars in nets, and he snacks on a normal-sized watermelon that turns itself into a boat. The sections become increasingly dreamlike, as a puddle offers a passage to the sky; walnuts contain actual nuts, or possibly a warm bath and comfortable bed, within their shells; and a concluding section provides a thoughtful meditation on emotion. Ainoya's color palette mixes pastels and deeper tones, with the rounded spot illustrations projecting a comfort that offsets the story's stranger qualities. Translated from Japanese, this imaginative tale speaks to the experiences of young children, for whom each day can bring new knowledge and wonder.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
"One day," creator Ainoya begins, "Haneru Sato became a rabbit. He's been a rabbit ever since." He looks very much like a child in a rabbit costume, and he walks upright through a natural world reminiscent of the Chirri & Chirra series--one that offers enchanting and sometimes droll revelations. He waters his garden, and a spread traces the water along a twisting, turning course through the forest back to its source, a pond that, in Blaskowsky's natural-sounding translation, "is blowing water into the hose as hard as it can." Next, Sato washes laundry in a green field, hanging up white shapes "piece by piece" against the blue sky. As clouds scud through, the laundry soon begins to resemble them, and, holding the ends of a sheet, Sato "becomes a ship and sets sail through rippling waves of grass." In subsequent sections, Sato captures shooting stars, takes a voyage in a watermelon he's eating, finds tiny worlds inside walnuts, and drinks cold tea with ice "made from/ water containing all the events/ of spring, summer, and fall." Each episode is over in a few pages, and every one offers kaleidoscopic, pleasingly sensorial images made for dreaming on. Ages 6--9. (Feb.)
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Review by Horn Book Review
Sato is a little boy in a rabbit costume, a kind of Japanese second cousin to Max in his wolf suit. In a set of seven small vignettes that span the seasons, Sato's daily activities -- watering the garden, doing the laundry, splashing in puddles -- turn into magic. Cracking open a walnut reveals an inviting miniature world. Eating a watermelon turns into a seafaring adventure. ("Nothing compares to eating watermelon on the sea.") Observing a meteor shower leads to a star-collection mission. Paintings in a naive style burst with saturated color -- watermelon red, night-sky blue, spring chartreuse. All the events coalesce in the final section, in which Sato goes on a winter forest walk, collecting ice in many colors. "The events of spring, summer, and fall are frozen into the waters that flowed through the forest." As he puts the various pieces of ice into drinks, he relives his travels, and the reader revisits the colors that enlivened each event. For fans of Doi's Chirri Chirra books (Underground, rev. 9/19; In the Tall Grass, rev. 11/17; and others), this import provides another cozy glimpse into mystery, independence, and imaginative play. Sarah Ellis January/February 2021 p.65(c) Copyright 2021. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A child's vivid imagination transforms everyday activities into magical interactions. This Japanese import emphasizes perspectives--especially those belonging to children who improvise and innovate on prosaic tasks and the minutiae of daily life. At the outset, Haneru Sato, a pale-skinned, black-haired lad, adopts both the identity and the likeness of a rabbit, thereby embracing alternate ways of experiencing the world. As he tends to the garden, a blue hose winds, looking rather like a stream, along a bucolic, tree-studded landscape with romping animals. It ultimately leads to an anthropomorphic pond that not only "blows water into the hose as hard as it can," but also recedes "back to being its tiny, peaceful self at Sato's playful signal that he's done. Similarly charming artwork illustrates the interconnectedness among nature, children, and creativity in six other episodic expeditions featuring distinct themes: "A Sea of Grass"; "A Night of Stars"; "Watermelon" (used as a boat); "A Window to the Sky"; "Walnuts" (envisioned as coffee shop, bakery, and much more); and "Forest Ice" (evoking multicolored frozen treats in various flavors). Alongside Sato, readers travel through the seasons while sharing his myriad, surprising lenses on the universe. The journey culminates in a homecoming when Sato settles into bed, cozily "sipping stories late into the night." The painterly illustrations suggest homage to Where the Wild Things Are, works by Eric Carle, and others. Sweet, surreal, and contemplative. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
