Shibumi and the Kitemaker

by Mercer Mayer

After seeing the disparity between the conditions of her father's palace and the city beyond its walls, the Emperor's daughter has the royal kitemaker build a huge kite to take her away from it all.

Genres: Picture Books, Japan, Childrens, Fiction, Fantasy, Asian Literature, Cultural

48 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1999

About the author

Mercer Mayer is an American children's author and illustrator. He has published over 300 books, using a wide range of illustrative styles. Mayer is best known for his Little Critter and Little Monster series of books.

Reviews

[Anthonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful tale of a young girl determined to change the outside to make it as beautiful as her garden in her home. She uses a kite to get her point to her father and the kitemaker makes her wish come true and her father tries to make the city like his daughter's garden as she wished in hopes of her returning home to him. A great story. A must read

[ConnieLettow · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book delves into why so many people are so poor. It was fascinating to read a children's book the addresses how rich nobles will fight even an emperor who tries to make life better for the people. It is a great book by a wonderful author.

[Set · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations seem both digital and artistically drawn like a video game. The story centers around a princess that sees the beauty of her life in comparison with others and decides to make a change in her kingdom.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this beautiful picture book about how one person can change the world for everyone. It’s a must read.

The illustrations are fabulous. They make you feel like you want to go flying on the end of a kite.

It gets my Super Huggable Book Award.

[Chris Schaben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful art work, and not a bad story, either.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful artwork. I especially liked the author's explanation at the end.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bravo!! Beautiful story and illustrations!

[Alicia Steagall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quit beautiful, lovely, beautiful culture based story to read!

[Inhabiting Books]

In this original fable by Mercer Mayer, Shibumi is a young princess of a "far-away kingdom" sheltered behind garden walls she isn't allowed past. She dreams of the wonders on the other side of the wall. When she overhears some children outside the wall making fun of the princess they've never seen, Shibumi climbs a tree to set them straight, but the squalor and deprivation she sees from that tree shatter all her illusions of a better world beyond the wall. Fearing that her father will punish her for climbing the tree, but driven to change what she sees, she conceives of a daring plan (that only a child would think of) that will force her father, the emperor, to make the situation better. Her drastic action gets his attention, and through it, she finally tells him what she wishes to happen. As he starts to implement a plan to fulfill her greatest wish, his councilors, thinking he has lost his mind and not eager to have the status quo changed, engage in a treacherous plot that results in Shibumi fleeing into exile. Despite his broken heart, or maybe because of it, the emperor works for years to implement the needed changes to his land, but is now, many years after Shibumi's departure, besieged in outright war by angry nobles who want things to return to the way they were. A young samurai goes in search of Shibumi, knowing that her father needs her to help him continue what she started.

Mayer's love of Japanese art and culture is evident in every beautiful and meticulous illustration.

This is a book with some heavy themes for young children: inequality of classes, the "haves" vs. "have-nots," and the difference one person can make in a seemingly impossible situation. I appreciated how Mayer allowed Shibumi's "grass-is-greener" attitude to develop into a deep conviction that she needed to be -and believed she could be- an instrument of change. I also appreciated that he didn't show the process as being easy or quick. I expect it's a book my girls will think about for years to come.

My seven and eight year-old daughters loved this fable. My four-year-old at least stayed beside me while we read, sometimes tuning out, but then something would draw her back in.

[Caitlyn]

1. Shibumi was locked inside a palace for most of her life before she climbed a tree and discovered a poor city. Enlisting the help of a kitemaker, she flies into the air and vows to not return until the city is beautiful. Her father spends years fixing the city and Shibumi eventually returns home.
2. This is a beautiful story which reminds me a lot of Aladdin. I enjoyed Shibumi's determination and her fight to make the city beautiful. I also really liked the ending which made a connection to today's world and the continued beauty of the city and the palace.
3. I would pair this book with "Baseball Saved Us" by Ken Mochizuki because of the similar cultural influences in both books.
4. "Shibumi had always thought that the city beyond her walled garden must be the most beautiful place on earth, but in reality only the palace and the little walled garden were beautiful."

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful example of peaceful political protest put into a fairy tale setting.

The story underlines the fact that social change works best when two different types of people are involved – the person affected by the problem who needs to state the problem and the person in the position of power and privilege who recognizes they have power and privilege and does something to change the system.

Also, wow, loved the realism of the central government trying to institute changes to the system, and the privileged class throwing a fit about privileges being shared.

A wonderful story with a powerful message that sometimes things have to change.

[Stacy Nyikos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mercer Mayer was born in Arkansas and moved to Honolulu when he was thirteen. He went from a racially segregated South to a melting pot South Pacific island where he was one of only three white children in his homeroom class. Mayer, although not Japanese, does an excellent job of weaving into this picture book the linguistic rhythm of Japanese when translated into English. There is honor in his depiction of the Japanese. Mayer also made up the entire legend of Shibumi, which gets at the issue of western Ethnocentrism. I am hard-pressed to find any hint of it in the narrative or its illustrations.

[Brian Cave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this picture book! Some wonderful illustrations from Mercer Mayer, and an even better story to go along with it. A magical story of a privileged girl wondering what the world outside of her walls was like. After she sees that everyone is suffering beyond the walls, she vows to never come down from a kite she is flying on. Some unfortunate events happen and she flies away. Her emperor father vows to fix the horror outside the walls, and get his daughter back. A young samurai finds his daughter and returns her to see the major difference in life in and outside the walls.

[Jaimie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mayer branches out from his normal art style (which is mostly Euro-centric) to tackle a more Japanese style to accompany a Japanese story and setting. The artwork is not quite woodblock or Japanese inking, but it is none the less appealing and works well with Mayer's fictional legend. The motif of kites leading to social change actually seems to work well - enough to touch on more traditional Japanese legends of paper cranes and young girls crusading for social change. Bravo to Mayer for attempting to broaden his storytelling and artistic range.

[Lde212_06 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully illustrated book. The story is great, but students could be captivated by the illustration alone without ever reading the words. However, with the text added to go along with pictures, this book is absolutely amazing. It is a great story to use in your classroom when teaching and making students aware of having compassion for others. This concept is clearly seen in the story while still being surrounded by suspense and action.

[Lamar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing fun children's novel about a girl named Shibumi who wanted to her kingdom be more fun and exciting and wanted to make friends with the other kids due to sneaking out one day on the other side of the wall and seeing how poor her father's kingdom is and so she wants to build the biggest kite the kingdom has ever seen with her help from the Kitemaker. Fun for both kids and adults!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first, my kids and I thought that this book was based on a real folktale, but it came from Mercer Mayer's imagination and fascination with Japanese culture. He did an impressive job. The story is quite epic for a picture book!

[Samantha wickedshizuku Tolleson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has some amazing artwork in it. Seriously drop your phones, and just go find this in the Children's section of your local library.
Over achieving 2nd graders and just entering 3rd grade; shouldn't find a problem with this read.

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful story & illustration

[Amelia G · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is definetely one of my favorite books from childhood. I loved the illustrations, as well as the ingenius story and way it was written. Abosolutely amazing! I highly recommend it.

[Theresa Lange · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good

[Alisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

BEAUTIFUL illustrations and a good, original story