''Umbrella'' by

Taro Yashima was a Japanese-American artist and children's book author. He immigrated to the United States in 1939 and assisted the U.S. war effort. Early life Iwamatsu was born September 21, 1908, in Nejime, Kimotsuki District, Kagoshima, and raised there o ...

is a children's picture book that was named the 1959

Caldecott Honor The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

Book. It was originally published in 1958 then later reprinted in August 1977 by

Puffin Books Puffin Books is a longstanding children's imprint of the British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s, it has been among the largest publishers of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world. The imprint now belongs t ...

Plot

''Umbrella'' is a short story where a little girl is the principal character. Her name is Momo, which means "peach" in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, and she was born in New York. Momo carries the blue umbrella and wears the rubber boots that she was given on her third birthday. She asks her mother every day to use her umbrella. Momo tried to tell her mother she needed to carry the umbrella to the school because the sunshine and the wind bothered her eyes. But her mother didn't let her use the umbrella and advises her to wait until the rain comes. The rain took a long time to fall down because it was

Indian summer An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Several sources describe a true Indian summer as not occurring until after the first frost, or more s ...

, however, when the rain came, her umbrella was the perfect excuse to use that day. Momo was happy, the rain sound over her umbrella was a music for her. It is a fresh children's story with classic and very colorful Japanese illustrations that reflect its culture.

Reception

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

gave ''Umbrella'' a star review and wrote "The pictures are full of the city's moods and the child's joy in a rainy day."

References

American picture books 1958 children's books Caldecott Honor-winning works Viking Press books Puffin Books books {{child-book-stub