Wabi Sabi

Credit author Mark Reibstein with this much. He sure doesn't shy away from trying to teach kids complex philosophical concepts. Here he is writing his very first picture book and does he select something easy like being the new kid in school or losing your first tooth? No, Reibstein decides to write a book about the ancient Chinese concept of wabi sabi (later adopted by the Japanese), working in thoughts on Taoism, haiku, and even the works of Basho on the sly. Paired alongside the remarkable Ed Young's artwork, the final product is a quiet, deep, moving story that may require a special audience, and yet has many uses.

One day Wabi Sabi the cat overhears his mistress discussing his name with a pair of visitors. When asked what "wabi sabi" means, the young woman replies, "That's hard to explain." Curious, Wabi Sabi sets out to find the true meaning of her name. Each creature she asks explains how difficult a concept it is to explain, and they often end their thoughts with a little haiku (each one describing wabi sabi in some manner). It isn't until the cat meets a wise monkey and partakes of tea in a plain and beautiful bowl that the phrase begins to take on a real meaning. Wabi sabi is the feeling you get when you find harmony in the imperfect that is beautiful. Stopping at a temple on her way home, Wabi Sabi creates poems in its honor and truly understands her name by the time she meets up with her mistress once again.

The book bears some surface similarities to Jon Muth's [[ASIN:0545040876 Zen Shorts]], though the tone feels a bit different. In both cases, however, you find yourself wondering idly about audience. The idea of a cat searching for the true meaning of its name is something kids will grasp easily. But with the added haiku in the text, the book appears to be aimed at older children. Maybe if a school had a class assignment on haiku this would make for a natural companion piece. Normally when a child has to learn about haiku they are handed a book of poems that are separate from one another. A title like [[ASIN:0060596775 If Not for the Cat]]If Not for the Cat by Jack Prelutsky is fun for kids but doesn't always make plain haiku's power to set a moment in time apart from the busyness of life. What Wabi Sabi does is to place these haikus within the context of a larger tale. When that happens, the little sayings and moments are set apart. They are shots of quietude in the midst of a busy narrative. As a result, the entire book has a kind of calming effect on the reader. Whether that effect will touch children as often as it touches adults remains to be seen.

I wouldn't call my relationship to Ed Young's work a love/hate relationship because I've never really hated anything he's done. I just feel that his art varies to a great and grand degree. When Ed Young created [[ASIN:0698113829 Lon Po Po]] it was justly given a Caldecott Medal for a title that was inarguably the greatest children's art of that given year. Lon Po Po was a triumph. Since then Mr. Young has done personal tales like [[ASIN:0399243399 My Mei Mei]] and grand sweeping visions with eclectic techniques as in [[ASIN:0811843432 Beyond the Great Mountains]]. These are all fine and good but few have them have really touched me in any way. Really, I haven't found an Ed Young book I really liked since [[ASIN:0399236252 I, Doko]]. Wabi Sabi, however, grabbed my attention. It could have been another run-of-the-mill book, but there's something extra here. Something special. Maybe it's wrapped up in the story of these illustrations' creation.

Here is the true story behind the pictures you will see in Wabi Sabi. When Mr. Young was asked to create the art for Reibstein's book he produced a series of beautifully simple images. When the pictures were done he went to visit his editor (or was it his agent?) and left the images on the front porch of the home. When he went outside again to retrieve them, they were gone. Poof! "It was a wabi sabi moment," says Mr. Young. And rather than bemoan his fate, curse the heavens above, and fall into a funk, Young resolved to make the pictures again, "and make them better." The result is what you hold in your hand now. Rather than use the same style (and this really was a case of starting over from scratch), Young went in a new direction. They'll call this artistic style mixed media and I guess that they aren't wrong, but there's something about Young's combinations here that gets at the heart of the story better than any random smattering of pulp on paper could. The epilogue to this tale is that six months or so after the disappearance of the art, it reappeared anonymously at a local church and was returned to Young's possession. And if you do a side-by-side comparison of Young's first try and subsequent re-illustration one thing is patently clear. The new images are better than the originals. Just as Ed Young said they would be.

To talk a little more about the art, can I confess to you that I'm not actually a fan of collage? I'm not. I have nothing against pasting random bits and pieces together in the hopes of creating something new and different, but it's not my favorite style in the whole wide world. And so the single most impressive and interesting image in this book is not, to my mind, the cat or the creatures he encounters but in fact the photograph that lurks behind the publication information at the end of the book. It's a shot taken in low lighting of what appears to be a stone garden. The sand is even, possibly after a recent rain, but breaking it up natural as you please is a set of small and precise cat footprints. The combination of perfect smooth surface and the playful remains of kitty feet is what this book is all about. The perfection of imperfection.

It is not an easy book to describe. I keep trying to give you some vast sense of the whole, and instead I keep finding myself returning to descriptions of single moments. How could I review this book without mentioning the image of Wabi Sabi staring out over a busy city at dusk? Young perfectly captures in a visual sense the accompanying haiku's description of the darkening city, "before the shock of new light", that will come with electricity. I was particularly intrigued to find that though I started the book by imagining that it took place in the past (Wabi Sabi's mistress wears a kimono), the shot of the city places it squarely in the present. This is not a jarring realization, however, and few will have any problems with it.

If people dohave any difficulties with the book, it may lie in the design. Wabi Sabi is a vertical book. To read it, you must turn it so that the pages move from down to up rather than from right to left. Some people find such books too difficult to read to children though, if [[ASIN:0152928510 Tops & Bottoms]] by Janet Stevens is any indication, this is something adults object to. Not children.

If you find the song Simple Gifts running through your head, do not be surprised. Heck, you could even pair this book with Chris Raschka's picture book [[ASIN:0805068171 Simple Gifts]] for a cat-related, simplicity-centric storytime. Concept books are hard enough when you're trying to teach a kid why sharing is bad or why homemade things have more meaning than store bought. Trying to teach kids about why the simple and plain are also beautiful is a task few would willingly select. Reibstein and Young, however, have hit upon the one way it can be done. I suspect that the world will recognize their achievement accordingly. Highly recommended.

I was so charmed by this gorgeous book, I bought copies for all my nieces and newphews. All respect is paid to the concept of Wabi Sabi in every nuance, elucidating young and old. The book is laced with Reibstein's haiku as part of the story and haiku in Japanese kanji by Basho and Shiki.

A beautiful gift. I love it!

As an adult, former resident of Japan (for 3.5 years), visitor of Ginkakuji, and cat lover, I enjoyed this book with its wonderfully done collages, calming story and accompanying haiku about a cat named Wabi Sabi. But it is more appropriate for a homeschooling parent, poetry teacher, or Japanese culture fan than any elementary-school-aged child I know. My favorite seven-year-old girl bookworm (and cat lover) begged me to stop reading it at about page three. And my favorite nine-year-old boy bookworm and ravenous reader wanted nothing to do with it. Pick it up for your parental reading pleasure at your local library to find out what all the fuss is about. But if you are looking for a kid-friendly picture book about things foreign, you'd do better with: Three Samurai Cats: A Story From Japan by Eric A. Kimmel and Mordicai Gerstein; Bee-Bim Bop! by Linda Sue Park and Ho Baek Lee; or Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat by Amy Tan and Gretchen Schields.

Occasionally, a book comes along that is beautiful and profound. Wabi Sabi captivated me. I knew the concept of wabi sabi from a décor perspective—finding beauty in simple and imperfect objects and celebrating them within the home. This book takes that concept further into a celebration of the beauty found in simplicity and imperfection in all things and beings.

In the book, Wabi Sabi is a simple and imperfectly beautiful little cat seeking the meaning of her name. The text is spare and includes more than a dozen quietly lovely haiku.

This is a wonderful book to read to children who are constantly bombarded with advertisements and a natural desire to own shiny, new toys & electronics. Or to give to older children already obsessed with expensive name brand items that have little to recommend them beyond a same-ness to one another. It may help diffuse the allure of materialism that is hard to escape.

It is also a good book to use to introduce children to non-rhyming poetry. Perhaps after reading Wabi Sabi, they will write their own 17-syllable haiku.

Its vertical format, rather than conventional horizontal format, subtly reinforces the concept of wabi sabi throughout the reading of the book. I will keep this book for many years and probably seek out other copies to give to friends and children who are important to me.

I received a gift certificate to an independent bookstore and found this book while browsing. I was immediately taken by it. The art is beautiful. I kept it for several years, and ended up donating it to the school that I taught at, as I had built several seventh grade poetry lessons around it. I had to buy a new copy for myself on Amazon.

The book takes a close read for seventh graders to begin to grasp the concept of wabi sabi. There are several days of discussions before they begin to understand the deeper meaning. For adults (I share this book with my friends, and keep it on my coffee table) there is a bit of a learning curve, too, especially for those who are not familiar with the concept. Because of this, and because I've read the book with a 4-year-old, I can say it is a difficult idea for younger readers, and you should not necessarily expect your younger elementary kids to fully grasp the underlying message.

However, like many things in life, the underlying meaning is not all that is present in this book. It is a piece of art with many layers. There is beautiful artwork, a story of a quest for self-realization, and the deceivingly simple concept of haiku. Younger kids can be entertained by this book without full understanding, and it can offer new conversation starters over and over again.

It's a beautiful book. You should buy it.

I first bought this book for my son's Christmas stocking when he had Mark Reibstein for his 11th grade English teacher (sadly, my son was transferred to another class right after receiving it ... Mr. Reibstein is a much-loved instructor, in addition to being a gifted author). I got a second copy when I bought the box the auction item from the English department at the WHS Auction -- I saved that one for myself as it is signed! Today I am sending it as a gift to a very sick adult cancer patient and her young children as a holiday gift -- that means it is very special indeed. It is a splendid book ... rare, in that both adults and children find it captivating. I enjoy it every time I read it. Our world can certainly use more Wabi Sabi. Thank you so much. - Andrew's mom

What a wonderful way to expose a young audience to meaningful simplicity. One reviewer said this wasn't a children's book but I guess it depends on the child. Curled up in bed with his dog and his cat my son pays rapt attention to this story. As the reader I was struck by the fact that even the physical pages of the book are thick, I kept thinking I was turning two pages (parents know about one-handed-book-reading), until I realized they had used very thick paper. A nice touch.

If we want our children to see beyond the flashy sound-bite world of TV then we have to give them compelling alternatives. Its never too early to start and this "children's" book is a fine beginning.

Truly wonderful, artistic, thought provoking. Have actually ordered a couple more books by same artist. Not just for kids- I am 74.

Originally I found this book in the children's section of my public library and fell in love. I have since bought copies for gifts and cry just looking at the cover. Not just for kids but for everyone who wants an uplifting story that also teaches about the ancient and beautiful Japanese concept of wabi sabi.

such a beautiful book of art by Ed Young.
the only regret is that the kanji letter used on the cover for "wabi" is not correct. it means 'apologize'.
I wonder why no one could tell Mr. Young about it.