''The Night Parade'' (2016) is a juvenile fiction debut novel by

Kathryn Tanquary Kathryn Tanquary is an American juvenile fiction author who lives and works in Japan. She is from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and currently works as an editor for Edelman (firm), Edelman Japan. Tanquary studied creative writing at Knox College ( ...

, a middle-grade author and teacher of English as a foreign language in

Gunma Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,362 km2 (2,456 sq mi). Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Tanquary’s ''The Night Parade'' is reminiscent of the 2001 Japanese

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction f ...

'' Spirited Away'' by Hayao Miyazaki. It has also been likened to

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...

’s '' Coraline'' and Grimm's fairy tales.

Plot

Saki Yamamato, a 13-year-old girl, travels with her parents from their home in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

to visit her widowed grandmother in the Japanese countryside for the annual

Obon festival or just is fusion of the ancient Japanese belief in ancestral spirits and a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist–Confucian custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people retu ...

. Used to the convenience of always being connected to her friends by

cell phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

, Saki is horrified when she loses signal in the

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

mountain village where her grandmother lives. In an attempt to fit in with a group of local kids, Saki goes to the mountain’s graveyard

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...

to ring the sacred bell, and she is plagued with a death curse that she must break in order to save her family and the human world. A series of spirits—a sly kitsune, a legendary tengu, and a talkative

tanuki Tanuki may refer to: *Japanese raccoon dog (''Nyctereutes viverrinus'' or ''Nyctereutes procyonoides viverrinus''), a mammal native to Japan *Bake-danuki, a type of spirit (yōkai) in Japanese mythology that appears in the form of the mammal *A de ...

—from the mountain visit her over the next three nights to aid her in her quest to reverse the deadly curse. She must walk in the Night Parade of spirits (aka ''

Hyakki Yagyō ''Hyakki Yagyō'' (, "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons"), also transliterated ''Hyakki Yakō'', is an idiom in Japanese folklore. Sometimes an orderly procession, other times a riot, it refers to a parade of thousands of supernatural creatures ...

'' or the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons) to find someone who can help her undo the curse. Along the way, she learns the importance of family and her heritage and gains a stronger appreciation for her grandmother and her Japanese roots.

Reception

''The Night Parade'' was included in the winter 2015/2016 IndieBound Kids’ Indie Next List for ages 9 to 12. Tanquary's debut novel has received mixed reviews from critics. It has been praised for its attempt to mesh

Japanese culture The culture of Japan has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world. Historical overview The ance ...

with the struggles of modern teenagers, like peer pressure, protective parents, and technology consumption. In a starred review for ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'',

literary agent A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers, and film studios, and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwrit ...

Thao Le wrote, "Vivid details and realistic situations ensure accessibility, and subtle teaching moments are wrapped in wide-eyed enchantment." Saki's character faced criticism due to her lack of introspection and her overall negative attitude throughout the book, however. The author has also been criticized for failing to further explore the story's fantastical side, despite "creating a world where both Japanese beliefs and cosmic

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

are real and co-exist." "Tanquary provides a cursory introduction to

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

tradition and culture but fails to fully commit to the Japanese spirit world," according to a ''Kirkus Review''. "This inconsistency, together with a tendency to tell rather than show, distracts readers from the supernatural elements of Saki’s adventures and keeps them from immersing themselves in her world."

References

External links

Author Kathryn Tanquary's blog

''The Night Parade'' on Amazon.com

''The Night Parade'' on Goodreads
{{DEFAULTSORT:Night Parade, The 2016 American novels American fantasy novels American young adult novels Novels set in Japan Sourcebooks books Japan in non-Japanese culture 2016 debut novels

Plot

Reception

See also

References

External links