worldlibraries's review
5.0
The first impression of this book is that it is made with such loving care and respect for the subject matter. The quality of the construction, illustrations, and end papers are an aesthetic pleasure to experience and signal a beautiful reading experience to come.
Are You an Echo? celebrates the radical empathy of Misuzu Kaneko's poetry and shares her biography. It immediately made me want to read every single thing she's written. Her ability to imagine what it must be like to be an inanimate object or a living thing humanity rarely extends loving kindness towards was delightful and eye-opening. After all, when was the last time you thought of what it must be like to be a telephone pole? Her compassionate imagination should be as widely available as possible because she has a gift for enlarging the compassionate imagination of others. Here's a sample poem that shows her ability to empathize with non-living things:
Snow Pile
Snow on top,
must feel chilly,
the cold moonlight piercing it.
Snow on the bottom
must feel burdened
by the hundreds who tread on it.
Snow in the middle
must feel lonely
with neither earth nor sky to look at.
What made this book especially fun to read was that someone I know wrote it: David Jacobson. It's lovely to contemplate the loving kindness of his heart that he appreciated the loving kindness of Misuzu Kaneko's heart.
Are You an Echo? celebrates the radical empathy of Misuzu Kaneko's poetry and shares her biography. It immediately made me want to read every single thing she's written. Her ability to imagine what it must be like to be an inanimate object or a living thing humanity rarely extends loving kindness towards was delightful and eye-opening. After all, when was the last time you thought of what it must be like to be a telephone pole? Her compassionate imagination should be as widely available as possible because she has a gift for enlarging the compassionate imagination of others. Here's a sample poem that shows her ability to empathize with non-living things:
Snow Pile
Snow on top,
must feel chilly,
the cold moonlight piercing it.
Snow on the bottom
must feel burdened
by the hundreds who tread on it.
Snow in the middle
must feel lonely
with neither earth nor sky to look at.
What made this book especially fun to read was that someone I know wrote it: David Jacobson. It's lovely to contemplate the loving kindness of his heart that he appreciated the loving kindness of Misuzu Kaneko's heart.
allieeveryday's review
3.0
Read Harder task #23: Read a collection of poetry in translation on a theme other than love.
I liked the idea of reading some Japanese poetry for this task, because I work with a few Japanese guys for a subsidiary of a Japanese company that, last October, sent me over to Japan for a few days for a company meeting. That's essentially my entire background with the Japanese culture, other than a childhood love for the Sailor Moon TV show and an ongoing love for that stuff we call sushi (which my coworkers refuse to eat).
I found out Are You an Echo? was at my public library. It is a beautifully illustrated children's book with poetry by a Japanese children's writer who died sometime around 1930, as best as I can tell. The first half of the book is a biography of the poet, Misuzu Kaneko, interspersed with her poetry, and the second half is a collection of her poems side-by-side in English and Japanese. I thought this was really neat to see, and I enjoyed the biography a lot (though I'm not sure how kid-friendly it actually is ... girl had some rough stuff happen in her short life). Overall the poems were very sweet. I can see why her work is so popular in Japan, as even in English it would probably be a good introduction to poetry for kids.
I liked the idea of reading some Japanese poetry for this task, because I work with a few Japanese guys for a subsidiary of a Japanese company that, last October, sent me over to Japan for a few days for a company meeting. That's essentially my entire background with the Japanese culture, other than a childhood love for the Sailor Moon TV show and an ongoing love for that stuff we call sushi (which my coworkers refuse to eat).
I found out Are You an Echo? was at my public library. It is a beautifully illustrated children's book with poetry by a Japanese children's writer who died sometime around 1930, as best as I can tell. The first half of the book is a biography of the poet, Misuzu Kaneko, interspersed with her poetry, and the second half is a collection of her poems side-by-side in English and Japanese. I thought this was really neat to see, and I enjoyed the biography a lot (though I'm not sure how kid-friendly it actually is ... girl had some rough stuff happen in her short life). Overall the poems were very sweet. I can see why her work is so popular in Japan, as even in English it would probably be a good introduction to poetry for kids.
shighley's review
4.0
Interesting, tragic story, and real testament to those who worked for years to get it just right.
I liked seeing the original Japanese on the same page with the poems; they are truly beautiful. Even the end papers convey a richness. I actually like some of the other poems more than the Echo one, but thought it very poignant that it brought comfort to people. I was a bit surprised to see the mention of the disease and suicide in the text itself, an essential part of the tragic story, but it might affect use of the book.
I liked seeing the original Japanese on the same page with the poems; they are truly beautiful. Even the end papers convey a richness. I actually like some of the other poems more than the Echo one, but thought it very poignant that it brought comfort to people. I was a bit surprised to see the mention of the disease and suicide in the text itself, an essential part of the tragic story, but it might affect use of the book.
anya_reading's review
4.0
I first heard about this book through Maria Popova's blog, Brain Pickings. She sums up this short little book pretty well - this is about a kind soul's work nearly lost to the world, but because we haven't lost it, we've been able to draw comfort from her gentle exhortations and observations. A small selection from Kaneko's treasure trove of (over 500!) poems is included as well, translated into English.
For a children's book, the publisher makes a bold choice to mention suicide (yes, the author was driven to do it by forces that were out of her control at that time). I'm not sure how much a child could understand that, but at least it wasn't sugar coated. For the adults reading this, it puts into perspective a person who could write so sensitively about anything, even snow; no doubt, Kaneko probably also felt - acutely - all of the ugly things that happened to her, interspersed with the good.
Interestingly, this book is presented in English on one side of the page, and Japanese on the other (with helping characters next to kanji, so that Japanese children could read these poems, I presume). This makes the book all the more valuable to early students of Japanese, I think - literature is an excellent way of learning more than just a language, but a culture.
My favorite poem in this book was "Stars and Dandelions". It felt almost like a Walt Whitman poem, with that cheeky narrator who reminds the audience that they may notice less than they think.
For a children's book, the publisher makes a bold choice to mention suicide (yes, the author was driven to do it by forces that were out of her control at that time). I'm not sure how much a child could understand that, but at least it wasn't sugar coated. For the adults reading this, it puts into perspective a person who could write so sensitively about anything, even snow; no doubt, Kaneko probably also felt - acutely - all of the ugly things that happened to her, interspersed with the good.
Interestingly, this book is presented in English on one side of the page, and Japanese on the other (with helping characters next to kanji, so that Japanese children could read these poems, I presume). This makes the book all the more valuable to early students of Japanese, I think - literature is an excellent way of learning more than just a language, but a culture.
My favorite poem in this book was "Stars and Dandelions". It felt almost like a Walt Whitman poem, with that cheeky narrator who reminds the audience that they may notice less than they think.
thebookishlibrarian's review
Misuzu Kaneko was a children’s poet in the early 1900s whose work was quickly forgotten after her premature death. Now, years later, it is rediscovered in the wake of the devastating tsunami of 2011. Jacobson brings her poems back to life in this book after connecting with Kaneko’s brother, and they are presented in Japanese and English.
lavendermarch's review
5.0
This was so lovely! I read it for my Japanese poetry class, and it was my favorite work so far. Misuzu Kaneko had such a gift for writing children's poetry, and it was so poignant and wonderful to read. I also appreciated the Japanese side-by-side with the English translations in the second half of the book, as someone who is learning Japanese. The art was gorgeous in this, absolutely beautiful and wonderfully connected to the poetry. As well, Misuzu's biography was so sad, but I'm very glad the editors chose to include it in the book. I would absolutely recommend this, and I'm incredibly happy I read it. 5 stars.
toad_maiden's review
4.0
Wow, this was an ambitious picture book! Not only does it gather together some of the first English translations of Misuzu Kaneko's poetry and give a picture of her biography, but this is told through the story of the man who tracked this information down. While complex, this book does a wonderful job of weaving together all of these elements. This story is not for the youngest of readers, as the authors don't water down Kaneko's tragic life story (which ends in suicide when she is just 26). But the poetry here is so bright and compassionate; this is a must-read for poetry lovers of all ages.
molliebrarian's review
4.0
Really beautiful book - I love the illustrations and especially the poetry
nikimarion's review
4.0
Really fascinating mini-bio of and collection of works by Misuzu Kaneko, a well-known and celebrated Japanese children's poet.
CW: passing mention of STDs (which is pretty impressive) and direct mention of suicide, so know what you're getting into when recommending the book or reading it with much younger kiddos. Book would likely be best for ages 7+
I really liked most of the images by Toshikado Hajiri, but some of them really fell flat to me. When you view strokes of genius perspective rendering on one page and a much less concentrated compositional effort on another, it's hard to ignore the inconsistencies.
CW: passing mention of STDs (which is pretty impressive) and direct mention of suicide, so know what you're getting into when recommending the book or reading it with much younger kiddos. Book would likely be best for ages 7+
I really liked most of the images by Toshikado Hajiri, but some of them really fell flat to me. When you view strokes of genius perspective rendering on one page and a much less concentrated compositional effort on another, it's hard to ignore the inconsistencies.