Shibumi and the Kitemaker
Marshall Cavendish, 1999
Readers with some background in Japanese history and culture will see immediately that Mayer's story of a princess, Shibumi, and her wish for a more equitable and flourishing city is pieced together with his own imagination. The well-crafted story recalls early on the life of the historical Buddha and maintains the quality of a folk-tale. In addition, Mayer's illustrations follow the same pattern, inserting a famous Shinto sculpture here, then drawing freely from Japanese styles of art and architecture elsewhere. Perhaps these aspects explain why I found this book in the folk-tale and not the picture book section of a local, public library. Contradicting historical patterns, Mayer places his emperor in a shogun's castle and gives him a loyal samurai. But the truths of parents' love for their child and of a child's yearning for an ideal world are incontestable.
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