Inspiration

JAPANESE ILLUSTRATOR SHINSUKE YOSHITAKE

05/15/2016,

I believe that we can use books as tools for helping children learn about the world. Rather than just focusing on teaching children to read, perhaps we should use literature and books to foster their understanding about the world.

Today I would like to suggest you to discover Japan with your kids through 2 great books by  illustrator Shinsuke Yoshitake.  He is the author of several children’s books, including Can I build another me? and It Might be An Apple, both edited by Thames & Hudson.   His sketches have won a following for the way they capture slices of life with an exquisite eye for detail.

 

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Can I build another me? is a charming story that uses bright, inventive illustration and gently humorous language to encourage young readers to think about the ideas of identity and individuality.

Can  I build another me? was published in April 2016 and is suitable for ages 6+.

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Kevin was fed up with doing things I didn’t want to do. Homework, tidying up, helping around the house- How boring! He’d much rather have fun instead. One day, he had a great idea. He would build another him!.

What follows is Kiven’s wildly inventive train of thought as he decides to make a clone of himself, and starts to wonder, what makes him HIM?

This is the key question behind this interesting story: Is it the scar on his knee or the freckles on his nose? Is it his love of acorns or the way he winks?  the more he thinks about it, the more complicated it becomes… Yoshitake introduces ideas to young children in an out-there way, taking a humorous approach to eternal questions about the meaning of life, creating unique books and stories.

 

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His second playful book It Might Be an Apple is a philosophical shaggy dog story for young children – and probably a few adults. The story follows a child’s hilariou thoughts through all the things an apple might be if it is not, in fact, an apple.

Distrusting the apple’s convincing appearance, the child’s imagination spirals upwards and outwards into a madcap fantasy world – maybe it’s a planet from outer space with tiny aliens on board? Perhaps it wants a cool hairstyle? Does it feel scared, or snore at night?

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I really recommend these books by Yoshitake as they encourage a questioning and challenging approach to the world around us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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