This beautiful, padded-cover picture book is a visual delight. The gorgeous Kokeshi girls in traditional kimonos are cute and colourful and the patterns of the kimonos are sure to appeal to young readers with an interest in fashion and art or those who simply enjoy looking at pretty things.
While the simple story and activities inviting readers to spot the matching patterns and lift flaps to find details are obviously aimed at younger readers, older children, particularly those with a Kokeshi doll collection or an interest in fashion or Japanese patterns and culture, will also love this book.
The book also features Japanese characters and words for various items including a chart of the days of the week in the classroom scene and the names of different hairstyles (mouse, cloud, chopsticks, flower, etc).
Kimonos is one of several books in the Kokeshi series by Annelore Parot that includes the picture book Yumi (KBR reviews here and here). My artistic 12-year-old daughter loves these books and still takes them out at times to simply enjoy the wonderful colours and patterns of the illustrations.
Title: Kimonos (Kokeshi)
Author/Illustrator: Annelore Parot
Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont, $24.95 RRP
Publication Date: 1 September 2010
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781921690976
For ages: 6+
Type: Picture Book
