When I first heard that Pushkin Children's Books were bringing out a Japanese title in February, I was keen to get my hands on a copy, mainly so that my daughter Emily could take part in January in Japan. The only thing I knew about the book was the title, and it sounded harmless enough - however, when it arrived, a cursory flick through was enough to tell me that this was a book I'd be reading alone. Let me explain why...
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Akiyuki Nosaka's The Whale that Fell in Love with a Submarine (translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori, review copy courtesy of the publisher) is a collection of seven stories written for children. Each takes place (both inside and outside Japan) on exactly the same day in history, the 15th of August, 1945. For those unaware of the significance of this date, this was the day Japan surrendered, and the Second World War finally ended...
The seven stories act as an educational tool for young readers, describing the plight of the Japanese people at the end of the conflict. The writer touches on the futility of war while focusing on the hardship felt by those not involved in the actual fighting. It's written in a style that will enable children to understand what's happening, but be warned - interesting as the stories are, they can certainly be a bit grim...
While the tales here are far removed from Disney films, one thing they do have in common is an abundance of animals in starring roles. In 'The Parrot and the Boy', the bird is a companion that reminds a boy of his father, killed years earlier in the war. The story takes place in an air-raid shelter in a bombed-out neighbourhood:
"Originally it had been constructed at the side of the road, but in the air raid two months earlier the town had been completely razed to the ground all the way from the mountain to the sea, and in the burnt-out ruins it was no longer possible to tell where houses had once stood and roads had once run."
'The Parrot and the Boy', p.22 (Pushkin Children's Press, 2015)
While the boy has survived the initial onslaught (as has his parrot), shell-shock and hunger will make life in the shelter difficult. Hopefully, the parrot will be able to keep the boy's spirits up until help arrives.
The animal theme continues with 'The Old She-Wolf and the Little Girl', in which a dying wolf falls in with a girl abandoned by refugees flooding out of Manchuria, and 'The Red Dragonfly and the Cockroach', where a young kamikaze pilot takes his insect 'friend' on a last, fatal mission. As for the title story, it does exactly what it promises, portraying a whale who mistakes a Japanese submarine for an attractive female of his species. It's a particularly sobering tale in which it's fair to say that the poor love-lorn whale has a tragic end...
Even where the focus is on the people, the suffering keeps coming. 'The Mother that Turned into a Kite' features a woman caught in an inferno with her young son doing everything she can to give him a chance of survival:
"Even her sweat was hot, she thought, as she desperately fumbled for more. If only the trickle of perspiration could be more like a waterfall. When she rubbed it on Katchan's bare hands and feet, the dryness gave way to a smooth and pleasant sensation, as if he'd just got out of the bath."
'The Mother that turned into a Kite', p.41
In 'The Prisoner of War and the Little Girl', we meet another lost couple, an escaped POW and an orphan girl, as they await the end of the war together. If only there could be a happy ending in this one (here's a hint - probably not).
It's an excellent, if sombre, collection, nicely translated by Tapley Takemori. While the language used is simple, the stories flow smoothly and are always compelling, making for a deceptively polished text. The mood is further enhanced by the illustrations of Mika Provata-Carlone. Each story has several black-and-white ink drawings, simple, effective and poignant companions to the texts.
The book is heart-breaking at times - with many sacrifices in vain, most of the stories have a bleak ending. In fact, it's not until the final story, 'The Cake Tree in the Ruins', that a ray of light appears. This one is a strange tale of a tree sprouting from the ashes of a burnt-out home. When some local boys eat the leaves, they discover that the tree is actually made of cake, leading the reader into a back story of an ailing boy and his childish dream. It's an allegorical piece giving hope for the future, the writer telling the children that the grown-ups started the war, not them - it's time for the children of Japan, and the world, to take the stage and shape the coming years.
It's an important message for children to hear, and Nosaka's book is full of stories they need to be told. The Whale that Fell in Love with a Submarine is a book I'd definitely recommend for upper primary children as it's important for them to learn about the past to avoid making the same mistakes in the future. However, for a seven-year-old (and a rather sensitive seven-year-old at that), this would be far too much too soon. You can't shelter your child from the realities of the world forever, but I'm going to leave it a little while longer before Emily gets to read this one...
My budding review assistant, Emily, made her blog debut last month, and today marks her third appearance on the site. Yet again, it's to discuss a book she received from the kind people at Pushkin's Children's Books, and after the success of The Parent Trap, it's time to look at another by the same author. I wonder what Miss Emily will make of this one...
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What's the name of the book, and who is it by?
The book is called The Flying Classroom, and it's by Erich Kästner.
What's it about?
It's about some boys at boarding school and their friend, No-Smoking (a man who lives in a railway carriage!). The boys get in trouble with the grammar school boys for burning their dictionary books - they also tie the students up and keep them prisoner! 'The Flying Classroom' is a play where the teacher takes the students on geography trips, and the boys perform the play at the end of the book.
Did you like it? Why (not)?
It was sort of a bit confusing, and sometimes it was a bit boring, but at other times it was exciting (like when Uli, one of the boys, did a difficult jump off a ladder and had a nasty surprise...). I liked it, but not as much as The Parent Trap :)
What was your favourite part?
Probably when the boys did 'The Flying Classroom' play because it was very exciting, and they had a surprise sentence for the teachers...
Was it difficult to read?
Maybe at some times, maybe the names of the places, and I got confused with the names of the characters - but I could understand the story :)
Would you recommend this book to other boys and girls? Why (not)?
Perhaps it would be a sort of book for boys because there weren't many girls in it. In fact, there weren't ANY girls in it except for the ladies!
Emily, thank you very much :)
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As expected, Emily wasn't quite as enamoured with this one as she was with The Parent Trap, but that's because she's a very girly girl and isn't overly keen on reading about naughty boys ;) However, she did enjoy it, and it's an interesting tale of life at a German boarding school, set within a frame narrative in which the writer (Kästner) talks about how he was pressured into writing the story!
Once again, the translation work is done by the excellent Anthea Bell, and having neglected to mention him last time, it's only fair that I talk about the illustrator Walter Trier. On the back cover, Quentin Blake is quoted thus:
"Walter Trier's deceptively innocent drawings are as classic as Kästner's words; I never tire of them."
And as he's far more of an authority on the subject than I am, I'll leave that there :)
Emily's had great fun with the two books of Kästner's she's read, but I suspect that the books are probably aimed at someone a little older than her - I'm sure she'll still be enjoying these in a few years' time. Which is not to say that she wouldn't mind trying more of his work - and I've heard that there's more from Kästner to come from Pushkin next year with the publication of Dot and Anton. So, if you have children who enjoy reading, and you're looking for something a little different... ;)
After the positive reception of Emily's first review last month, we thought that we'd try looking at another book together, and today's choice is a further offering from Pushkin Children's Books. The writer and translator, once again, are very familiar names - the star of the show, however, is a little hairier than last time around ;)
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What's the name of the book, and who is it by?
The name of the book is The Adventures of Shola, and it's by Bernardo Atxaga.
What's it about?
It's about a dog called Shola and her owner, Señor Grogo. Shola is no ordinary dog. She likes going on adventures, maybe she is a 'rara avis' (laughs). She's a little white dog, and she has lots and lots of adventures, like going on a wild boar hunt and being a lioness!
Did you like it? Why (not)?
I liked two of the stories, but I didn't like the other two stories as much. They were just a little bit boring because there wasn't much excitement in them. I liked the other stories better because they have lots of excitement, and Shola is on the run!
What was your favourite story? Why?
'Shola and the Aunt from America', because it was very funny. In this story, Señor Grogo's aunt is coming over from America, and Shola thinks she is going to be a rude, nasty cowgirl, but she is a 'no-leaded dogs person', so Shola is very surprised about her reaction of being free. Shola cannot believe that the aunt from America threw away her lead.
I also liked 'Shola and the Wild Boar'. It was full of excitement, and Shola was the smallest dog, but she was the bravest of all. Even though they didn't even see a real wild boar, it was a terrifying hunt!
Was it difficult to read?
Maybe the words on the TV show 'Live in the Park' (in the 'Shola and the Aunt from America' story), like 'rara avis' and 'discombobulated', were a bit tricky. The rest of the book was easy to read, and I liked the colourful pictures. My favourite picture was of the American aunt :)
Would you recommend this book to other boys and girls? Why (not)?
It would be a good book for dog-lovers and anyone who likes crazy things!
Emily, thank you very much :)
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Our second choice from the Pushkin Children's range is another by a high-profile team. The writer is Bernardo Atxaga, a Basque author well known for his adult books (e.g. Seven Houses in France) while the translator (from Atxaga's own Spanish translation) is one of the biggest names in the game, the wonderful Margaret Jull Costa (translator of, among many others, Javier Marías and José Saramago). There is a third member of the team too, illustrator Mikel Valverde, and his wonderful colourful drawings are an integral part of the stories, allowing us to see the fearless Shola in all her glory.
The four stories were originally released individually, and this collection is a wonderful book, a beautiful hardback edition running to more than two-hundred pages. Some of the vocabulary might be a little tricky for younger readers (even the intrepid Emily), but there's always the option of reading the book to your child yourself. I suspect I might try reading one of the stories to her over a few evenings to see if it works better that way...
So, another great children's book, and a further insight into what kids overseas are reading (or having read to them). I wonder what else we can find to entertain Miss Emily with? Hopefully, it won't be too long until we get back to you with the next instalment of her adventures in translated fiction :)
You're never too young to start enjoying the delights of fiction in translation, and nobody knows that better than the good people over at Pushkin Press. Not content with reviving the reputations of writers like Stefan Zweig and Antal Szerb, and introducing us to modern writers such as Andrés Neuman, they've branched out into providing books for younger readers through their Pushkin Children's Books imprint.
I was keen to see what my daughter would make of some translated classics, so I was very grateful when Pushkin sent a few books for me my daughter to try - and, coincidentally enough, the first fits in very well with German Literature Month. You see, this is a classic of German-language children's literature, with a storyline many of you will find rather familiar...
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Tell me about about yourself.
My name is Emily Malone, and I'm seven years old. I like reading and dancing - and I like the movie Frozen!
What's the name of the book, and who is it by?
The book is called The Parent Trap, and it's by Erich Kästner.
What's it about?
It's about two girls, Lottie and Luise, that look exactly the same and are convinced that their parents are hiding from them that their other parent is alive. Then they switch places and somehow things do *not* turn out as they planned, but also good things happen :)
Did you like it? Why (not)?
I did :) Because it was a good story, and it was really funny that they didn't even like each other at the start and then were really good friends. Also, it's exciting when they change places because you don't know what's going to happen next!
What was your favourite part?
When one of them had a a dream, it was really weird because they cut the two girls in half! But it wasn't really cutting them in half, they cut off one bit and then stuck it to the other girl, and the parents each took one child!
Was it difficult to read?
It was difficult to read the foreign words (the names and places). Maybe it was a little difficult sometimes, but it was usually OK.
Would you recommend this book to other boys and girls? Why (not)?
Yes, I would. Because I think it would be a good story for girls, but I don't think, on the other hand, if they want to find someone exactly like them, it would be a good story - they might find someone, and then they might swap places!
Emily, thank you very much :)
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The observant among you may have noticed that the title has been used for a Hollywood film, and in fact the two versions of The Parent Trap (one with Hayley Mills in the double role and the other featuring Lindsay Lohan) simply relocated Kästner's story to the US. According to Wikipedia, there have also been numerous German film adaptations of the novel :)
It's a very clever book and a story which is far more sophisticated than might first appear. Written in the 1940s, its handling of divorce was quite advanced for its time, and the idea of children organising their parents' lives was no less controversial. The English version is very well written, with plenty of wry asides, but then, you'd expect nothing less. It's translated by Anthea Bell, the woman responsible for the English voice of Zweig, W.G. Sebald and... Astérix!
(More from Emily:
E: So the book was from a different language?
T: Yes, the translator had to read the book and rewrite it in English.
E: So she's a bit like a re-author?)
In short, it's well worth a read (for both young and old), and Emily is already eyeing off the next of the Pushkin Children's books. However, I think I might just hide them for a few days - at the rate she reads, I'll be spending all my time writing reviews in the near future...
