Japan

School Library Journal

Gr 3-5-- These two attractive volumes give simple introductions to their respective countries, highlighting specific locales within each. Both concentrate on the here-and-now with only the slightest genuflection to history. China's great diversity of terrain and ethnicity is clearly brought out, while in Japan homogeneity is underscored. The whirlwind approach gives very little feeling for what it is like to live in either place. Factual tidbits are presented in an attractive and clear manner; well-reproduced full-color photographs and illustrations present unusual and informative material. Appended fact files and time charts will prove useful for school reports. The index to Japan is fairly comprehensive; the one in China , although larger, consists largely of place names. Waterlow's China (Bookwright, 1990) is the only serious competition at this grade level, while Japan has no real rivals. Neither book is definitive, but both are good stopgaps. --John Philbrook, San Francisco Public Library

Julie Corsaro

The strength of this user-friendly guide, part of the Country Topics for Craft Projects series, is that it provides the kind of cultural particulars that are hard to find in comparable books. Unfortunately, both textual and visual information is sometimes sketchy or unclear. For instance, the section "Around Japan" states that Tokyo's tall skyscrapers are near Shinjuku, "the city's busiest station." Is that a bus, train, or subway station? In addition, a map that claims to show Japan's most important cities doesn't. And while a "sharp knife" is required to make radish flowers, safety precautions are not mentioned. Despite these shortcomings, this overview has a bustling, accessible format that combines brightly colored cartoons with formal photographs. The wealth of information about sports, food, language, holidays, the arts, poetry, and history leads right in to craft projects that should satisfy both teachers and students.