Cool Melons - Turn to Frogs!
The Life and Poems of Issa
Author Matthew Gollub Illustrated by Kazuko G. Stone ISBN 9781584302414 Binding Trade Paper Publisher Lee & Low Books Publication Date October 28, 2004 Size 210 x 260 mmFor hundreds of years, school children in Japan have been introduced to poetry through the work of Issa. Born in 1763 on a farm in central Japan, Issa began writing poetry as a young child, inspired by his deep love for the natural world. Later in his boyhood and throughout his life, poetry was also Issa's refuge in times of joy and in times of suffering.
Matthew Gollub's poignant rendering of Issa's life and over thirty of his best-loved poems, along with Kazuko Stone's sensitive and humorous watercolor paintings, make Cool Melons a classic introduction to Issa's work for readers of all ages. With authentic Japanese calligraphy, a detailed Afterword, and exhaustive research by both author and illustrator, this is also an inspirational book about haiku, writing, nature, and life.
Awards
"Choices"
Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
"Editor's Choice"
San Francisco Chronicle
Best Children's Books of the Year for 1998
Bank Street College of Education
Asian Pacific American Award for Literature
Children's and Young Adult Category
Honorable Mention for Illustration
Bay Area Book Reviewers Association Award
Finalist
Interest Level
Grades 1 - 6
Reading Level
Grade 3
Themes
Asian/Asian American Interest, Biography, Environment/Nature, Poetry
Accelerated Reader
Level: 4.4
Points: .5
Cool Melons- Turn to Frogs! The Life and Poems of Issa
Review
by Publishers Weekly
"This superb homage to the 18th-century Japanese haiku master is as elegant and spare as the poet's form. Gollub's (The Moon Was at a Fiesta) brief biography introduces Issa's pertinent haiku and tells the story of Issa's transformation from a sad child (his stepmother thwarted his gift) to a recognized, talented poet. Japanese artist Stone (Dorobo the Dangerous), who chose the haiku represented here for Gollub's translation, captures the moment described in each poem with exquisite details, imbued with quiet emotion. For example, for the poem "Climb Mount Fuji,/ Snail, but slowly,/ slowly!" Stone puts readers at a vantage point above a snail traversing a tree branch that appears to lead the way up the great mountain's slope. The poem and image come at the point in the biography when Issa is just beginning his studies, in the long journey to master poet. The book's design lends a fluidity to the interlacing elements: within the narrative, a poem appears on each page, coupled with Stone's expressive visual representation, while the haiku in Japanese calligraphy runs down the outer border. For students of haiku, Gollub explains his deviation from the 17-syllable definition (he chose to adhere closely to Issa's words) and gives a brief history of haiku. Readers would be hard-pressed to find a more eloquent, concise and inspiring approach to understanding (and writing) this deceptively simple art form."
Cool Melons- Turn to Frogs! The Life and Poems of Issa
Review
by School Library Journal
"A successful collaboration of verse and prose that brings a famous 18th-century poet to life. Gollub's original translations of Issa's haiku are interspersed with biographical narrative (slightly fictionalized) so that each one lends context to the other. Each poem is illustrated with a realistic spot of framed watercolor-and-colored-pencil picture, and rendered in Japanese calligraphy in the outer margin. Stone elaborates on her artistic research in endnotes. Gollub explains how he went about his translations so that readers can understand what to look for and what's lost. Although just an introduction, this book explains a lot about haiku and those who wrote it, information not usually included in books written for this age level. However, no mention was made of what made Issa so different from his predecessors-his poetry had a casualness and sense of humor that was both criticized and popular. Along with Dawnine Spivak's Grass Sandals (Athenium, 1997), this book works at restoring the historical and literary context to this popular form of poetry as well as at instilling an appreciation for one of its most enjoyable practitioners."
Cool Melons- Turn to Frogs! The Life and Poems of Issa
Review
by Kirkus Reviews
"Gollub (Uncle Snake, 1996, etc.) translates 33 of Issa's more than 20,000 haiku, intersperses them through a short biography, and caps it all with an explanation of some of the poems' less obvious images. with the Japanese originals running decoratively along their margins, Stone's appealing formal paintings illustrate the poems literally: children in traditional dress stand with their mouths up and open as "Mouth-watering snowflakes fall/lightly, lightly/Heaven's snack," and green melons in a basket do "turn to frogs/If people come near." Gollub explains that the haiku are not presented chronologically, so any connections between them and specific instances in Issa's life are speculative. Nevertheless, readers will get a glimpse of the poet's extraordinary range of subject and feeling, as well as cogent instruction in how to read and understand these deceptively simple verses."
Kazuko G. Stone has illustrated many books for children here in the United States and in her native Japan. She was the illustrator for Ten Oni Drummers and Cool Melons. A full-time artist, teacher, and designer, she lives in New York City with her husband and their two daughters.