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One Leaf Rides the Wind
Mannis, Celeste Davidson and Susan Kathleen Hartung (illustrator). One Leaf Rides the Wind. New York: Viking Children’s Books, 2002. 24 p. ISBN 0-670-03525-4 (hc). $15.99. Illus.
One Leaf Rides the Wind is a children’s counting book which shows a Japanese girl exploring a temple garden. The beautiful painted illustrations are accompanied by haiku poetry. Underneath each haiku, there is a brief paragraph which gives further information about the item being counted and why it is an important part of the Japanese garden and culture. The girl sees one leaf, two stone temple dogs, three bonsai trees, four birds, five tiers on the roof of the pagoda, six geta outside of a teahouse, seven sweets on a tray at a tea ceremony, eight lotus blossoms, nine koi fish, and ten stone lanterns. The next page is a panoramic view of the garden featuring all of the objects. The last page features a brief paragraph explaining Japanese gardens and haiku.
Author Celeste Davidson Mannis has written one other children’s book, The Queen’s Progress, An Elizabethan Alphabet. She received bachelor’s degrees in History and the History of Art, in addition to an MBA from the University of Southern California. She has also studied British and Renaissance Art History at the University of London. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her family. One Leaf Rides the Wind was inspired by a family vacation to a Japanese garden.
Susan Kathleen Hartung has illustrated more than ten children’s books. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in illustration with a focus in children’s books from the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City. She is a member of the Graphic Artist Guild (GAG) and the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI). She is also the former Vice-President and co-corporate founder of the Picture Book Artists Association (PBAA), which is made up of over 150 professional children’s book illustrators from around the world. She currently resides in Brooklyn, Michigan with her husband, two dogs, Klaus and Audie, and their pet cats, Gomez and Hadji.
At first glance, this book seems to be a simple counting book suitable for only very young children. It is in fact much more. It is a wonderful introduction to haiku poetry, which follows the traditional five-seven-five syllable pattern. In addition, the footnotes provided at the bottom of the page help readers understand that Japanese gardens are places of peace and tranquility and provides further overall depth to the story. This is currently the only children’s picture book that I know of that uses haiku as its storyline, which makes this book truly unique.
Each captivating page is filled with softly tinted paintings of the counted objects which mimic the sereneness of the accompanying haiku. Along with large readable type, very simple descriptive words, good binding and sold at an affordable price, this book should have a permanent place in any children’s section in public or elementary school libraries. Elementary school teachers will find this book especially useful when teaching haiku or studying Japanese culture.
One Leaf Rides the Wind is a children’s counting book which shows a Japanese girl exploring a temple garden. The beautiful painted illustrations are accompanied by haiku poetry. Underneath each haiku, there is a brief paragraph which gives further information about the item being counted and why it is an important part of the Japanese garden and culture. The girl sees one leaf, two stone temple dogs, three bonsai trees, four birds, five tiers on the roof of the pagoda, six geta outside of a teahouse, seven sweets on a tray at a tea ceremony, eight lotus blossoms, nine koi fish, and ten stone lanterns. The next page is a panoramic view of the garden featuring all of the objects. The last page features a brief paragraph explaining Japanese gardens and haiku.
Author Celeste Davidson Mannis has written one other children’s book, The Queen’s Progress, An Elizabethan Alphabet. She received bachelor’s degrees in History and the History of Art, in addition to an MBA from the University of Southern California. She has also studied British and Renaissance Art History at the University of London. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her family. One Leaf Rides the Wind was inspired by a family vacation to a Japanese garden.
Susan Kathleen Hartung has illustrated more than ten children’s books. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in illustration with a focus in children’s books from the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City. She is a member of the Graphic Artist Guild (GAG) and the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI). She is also the former Vice-President and co-corporate founder of the Picture Book Artists Association (PBAA), which is made up of over 150 professional children’s book illustrators from around the world. She currently resides in Brooklyn, Michigan with her husband, two dogs, Klaus and Audie, and their pet cats, Gomez and Hadji.
At first glance, this book seems to be a simple counting book suitable for only very young children. It is in fact much more. It is a wonderful introduction to haiku poetry, which follows the traditional five-seven-five syllable pattern. In addition, the footnotes provided at the bottom of the page help readers understand that Japanese gardens are places of peace and tranquility and provides further overall depth to the story. This is currently the only children’s picture book that I know of that uses haiku as its storyline, which makes this book truly unique.
Each captivating page is filled with softly tinted paintings of the counted objects which mimic the sereneness of the accompanying haiku. Along with large readable type, very simple descriptive words, good binding and sold at an affordable price, this book should have a permanent place in any children’s section in public or elementary school libraries. Elementary school teachers will find this book especially useful when teaching haiku or studying Japanese culture.
Submitted in March 2007 by Teri Ono, LIS Student, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
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