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Nancy Keane's | Booktalks -- Quick and Simple | |
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Reibstein,
Mark.
WABI SABI Boston : Littlel, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2008 IL K-3, RL 2.8 ISBN 0316118257 |
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Wabi
Sabi, a cat from Kyoto, Japan has never put much thought into the meaning
of her name before, until she hears visitors ask her owner what her name
means. Upon hearing her owner reply, "that's hard to explain", Wabi Sabi
embarks on a quest to find the meaning of her name. Join Wabi Sabi
on her introspective and philosophical quest across Japan. She encounters
and asks colorful creatures about her name, all of which tell her "that's
hard to explain"and go on to vividly describe, with the use of Haiku, what
it means to them; each filling in a piece of the mystery surrounding wabi
sabi.
The book Wabi Sabi addresses the Zen way of understanding in seeing beauty in the natural, the imperfect, and modest. "Wabi Sabi is a way of seeing the world that is at the heart of Japanese culture". Each page includes two haiku poems. One of the Haiku poems is written, by the author, into the narrative of Wabi Sabi. The other appears decoratively in Japanese characters, originally written by one of two ancient Haiku masters: Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) and Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902). The book also includes historical paragraphs related to both the origins of wabi sabi and of the art form of Haiku. In the end, because the book is so well ripe with images of wabi sabi, you cannot help but think, what does wabi sabi mean to you? (Luwana Listener, luwanalistener@hotmail.com, college student) |
| SUBJECTS:
Cats -- Fiction.
Aesthetics, Japanese -- Fiction. Animals -- Fiction. Japan -- Fiction. |
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