Judy Sierra (author)
Meilo So (illustrator)
Tasty Baby Belly Buttons
Knopf, 1999
Maybe it's because I spent the afternoon making dumplings with my mother and nostalgia got a hold of me, which makes me declare about Judy Sierra's Tasty Baby Belly Buttons, loved it! I loved the melon princess, Uriko-hime, who born from a melon was without a belly button. But, she had ample doses of justice, courage, and sympathy on which she drew to rescue her village's babies from the monstrous oni whose favorite delicacy is the delicious infant navel. I loved also the text's sprinkling of Japanese onomatopoetic words—tsunbara, tsunbara and tonkoto, tonkoto and boro, boro and the like—which make the folktale a delight to read aloud and to hear. I loved also the watercolor illustrations, which are done with verve. Uriko-hime's two-tone, melon-colored robe with watermelon seed accents is something that I'd love to see supersede some of American girlhood's prevailing frothy pink tulle with sparkly this and that. Read it, and love it, too.
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