Tasty Baby Belly Buttons: A Japanese Folktale
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Is it age appropriate?
About our ratings -
Is it any good?
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Common Sense says
Japanese tale is reinvented with humor.
Why We Rated This
for Ages 2 and Up
The good stuff
What to watch out for
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Violence & scariness:
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Sexy stuff:
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Language:
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Drinking, drugs, & smoking:
What Parents Need to Know
This review of Tasty Baby Belly Buttons: A Japanese Folktale was written by Whitney Stewart
Parents need to know that the monsters that make off with a bunch of babies may worry some little ones. But humorous, repetitious language will have kids changing aloud.
Families Can Talk About
- Families can talk about the David-and-Goliath nature of the story. Little Uriko dares to do what none of the adults will do. What do you admire about her? Do you think you would be so brave?
More on Tasty Baby Belly Buttons: A Japanese Folktale
Book Summary
Is It Any Good?
Meilo So's wild, swirling lines and unusual greens and oranges help create an otherworldly setting that matches the timeless folktale narrative. Picture-book audiences wiggle with mild fear when the author brings on the terrible oni. In well-timed passages, she eases the tension by highlighting tender moments between the old Japanese couple and Uriko.
The pages almost turn by themselves as Uriko marches off in her tall wooden sandals to find the monsters who have kidnapped the town's babies. The energy comes to a climax in the slapstick scene in which Uriko and her friends outmaneuver the fat-bellied oni. The only problematic aspect to this original telling of an old Japanese tale is in the foreign phrases that do not correspond to sounds English-speaking children understand. Some readers enjoy the unfamiliar phrases, but others are distracted by the sounds.
Publisher’s Details
Number of pages: 29, Price: $6.99 (paperback)
Read Aloud: 2+, Read Alone: 6+

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