I guess of all the countries I’ve travelled, Japan would be one of the hardest I’ve experienced to access the local book culture. ‘Cos while there are plenty of bookshops, my lack of familiarity with the Japanese language made it very difficult for me to get a sense of the ‘vibe’ of publishing there.
Nevertheless, as part of my general impression about how well kids are looked after in public spaces in Japan, I got a sense of the high priority kids’ books are given. Several places we visited surprised me by including a library of kids’ books, often housed in funky bookshelves.

One day, for example, we found ourselves in a fairly ‘down-market’ (for Japan) suburban shopping centre. (We were looking for a cheap stroller…) On the top floor was a food court and a sort of games parlour, which had as part of it a preschooler play centre. It cost about 800 yen ($8) to get in, which gave your toddler about half an hour of free play and three rides. Anyway… as part of this fairly run-of-the-mill games-parlour/play-centre thing, there was a gorgeous set of shelves, packed full of beautiful, pristine picture books.

Who woulda thunk it? In the context of all that consumerism and hub-bub, it was so nice to think of a space where parents and kids could pick up a book and read together. Pretty jolly nice kids’ bookshelves too!

And Rowan? Yeah, he had a ball…

Kidzania, subject of my previous post, also had some great children’s bookshelves and other storage in their kindergarten.

But probably my favourite example of a place that gives kids’ books their rightful priority was the Kyoto International Manga Museum. This is a new museum, which is a major centre for the study and appreciation of manga (Japanese comics). The Kyoto International Manga Museum is housed in a converted elementary school, and retains a lot of the charm of the old building and grounds. Approximately 300,000 manga volumes are held in the museum, and can be freely read by visitors, which means the halls and grounds are scattered with people intently reading. (It also has manga drawing demonstrations and exhibition of the history and culture of manga creators. There was even a workshop where kids could learn how to animate a short story using 3D objects.)

And for younger visitors, there is a dedicated children’s library. At the door of the library, there is a sign which reads:
“Children younger than elementary school with their parents only.”
I just love the way this is phrased. How important does it make a child feel? And I don’t think I’ve ever felt more welcome and accepted for the sole reason of having a small child in my days as a mum!
The room opened to a welcoming space of clean design. Tall square-shaped bookshelves contained hundreds and hundreds of picture books, many of them favourites of ours at WeHeartBooks: Olivia, Hungry Caterpillar, Happy Lion, and lots more. Cleverly conceived surfaces – including a sloped reading pit, steps, couches and a large cubby house space – allowed a variety of inviting spaces for children to read. And lots of kids and their parents relaxing and enjoying books together. Just the way you want a kids’ library to be.

Thanks to the Kyoto International Manga Museum for the interior shot of the children’s library.

Kidzania was one of the gobsmacking highlights of our time in Tokyo.

Kidzania is essentially a miniature city of make believe, where kids pretend to be adults for the day, choosing their jobs and take part in the world of commerce. On arrival you enter a streetscape of miniature buildings and vehicles (scaled to two-thirds the size of the real world equivalent), where kids can earn and spend ‘Kidzos’, and learn to be whatever they dream of: businessmen, builders, firemen, cooks, doctors, postmen.

What’s more, each of the 80 activites are dedicated adult-free zones.

It’s not always easy to remember what life was like as an eight- or ten-year-old but I reckon this would have pretty much been a form of heaven for me.

Putting on the uniform required for your dream job, and learning how to work on a radio station, run a police investigation, work on a building site, hire a car, be a travel agent or hairdresser or fashion model are just some of the activities on offer to kids at this amazing theme park. And for the bookworms there was even a publishing house!

With the involvement of major brands like Coca Cola (at the bottling plant), Johnson & Johnson (at the hospital) and Mitsubishi (at the caryard), the creators of this unique theme park have ensured an incredible attention to detail and level of quality.

Something about to overt sponsorship and the stereotyping of some of the roles in this world did make me a little bit uneasy, but nevertheless, I know I would have loved this make-believe world as a kid and I can’t help but think that it teaches some valuable lessons about careers, independence and finances.

Unfortunately going to Kidzania was a form of torture for Rowan. A bit too young to really participate, he had numerous tantrums revolving around a need to drive the fire engine. He did go for two rides on the Kidzania bus (while his Japanese cohorts learnt to be bus tour guides and politely convinced him that he shouldn’t be driving). Eventually we located the Kidzania kindergarten. Here, he was shown a train set and he was sold. Meanwhile, eager Japanese kids learnt to be his kindergarten teachers.

You can imagine the noise of hundreds of exited primary school kids in a confined space, even if it is 6000 square metres, but we nevertheless spent several hours in this amazing world for kids. And when it got too much, there was the ‘Parent Zone’ with free internet and coffee and newspapers…

I would have said ‘Only in Japan’ but Kidzania was a concept born in Mexico. Japan was the first country to adopt it outside Mexico, but other versions have opened or are planned in Indonesia and Dubai. A good article on the concept can be found here.

Kidzania is located in the also fairly gobsmacking Lalaport shopping centre at Toyosu. I didn’t realise it at the time, but have since learnt Lalaport is one of Tokyo’s biggest shopping malls, which makes it a good destination for a rainy day (which it was). While there, I stumbled upon a beautiful craft store called Mano Creare (and bought some treasures which I will have to reveal in a few weeks once my parcel arrives via surface mail…), a branch of the famous ‘Creative Life Store’, Tokyu Hands (a DIY department store with an amazing variety of the normal and bizarre for everyday life) and a branch of the beautiful cooking school, ABC Cooking Studio.

Another reason for it being a good day trip for kids (and big kids) is the mode of transport you can use to get there. From Toyosu you can take the Yurikomome line, which is an elevated and fully-automated type of train. Because the system is operated solely by computers, you can sit right up the front, which meant Rowan could pretend to ‘drive’ the train. (After his frustrations at Kidzania, this was a just reward…) Being elevated, the route also affords views across the bay to the city and past some amazing architecture. A ride on Yurikomome is well worth it as an activity in itself, and was one of my ‘Why-don’t-they-mention-this-in-the-Lonely-Planet?!’ moments!

Is it obvious how much I loved Tokyo?

We are back in Melbourne after an amazing holiday in Japan.

What an incredible country! Almost everything surpassed our expectations. It is an amazing place to experience, especially for kids, or those who are a bit of a big kid themselves (like me).

This was our first big trip with Rowan, and we were prepared for the style of travelling we’d become accustomed to in the past to be seriously curtailed. It was good to go with this expectation, but I think in the end we were pleasantly surprised.

From my perspective, Japan is a country which really looks after children. I wonder if this stems from a mentality first expressed to me by Kenichi, the owner of our accomodation in Tokyo, Tokyo Ryokan. When I first saw our room and the thin screen walls separating us from our neighbours, I vocalised my concern that Rowan’s early wake-ups might disturb other guests. He replied quite simply, ‘But we were all Rowan’s age once.’

Virtually every restaurant we went to had a highchair and without fail, Rowan was provided an unbreakable bowl, a small knife and fork and a glass of water. Many restaurants offered children’s menus, which often included a toy. Children Rowan’s age were accommodated every place we went, and for free! Every public toilet had spotlessly clean change table. Some even had an ingenious invention of a type of highchair where you can prop your baby or toddler while you go to the toilet yourself.

Rowan was an oddity with his blonde hair. Brad and I thought about ‘charging’ for the attention that he got (100 yen for a stare, 200 yen for a comment, 1000 yen for a photo…) and we figured that we would have paid for our holiday if we had implemented it… But it was a great conversation starter to travel with a child, and we made contact with Japanese people that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

It wasn’t hard for me to unearth numerous treasures related to kids’ books while we were away, and I have many more photos and stories to share… Just got to get a chance to get them all down…

After what feels like weeks of packing… we’re off to the homeland of the authors of treasures like this, this and this.

Some book-related preparations have been made… We have tickets to Ghibli (”a portal to a storybook world” and home of creators of Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away) and we are considering a visit to Tokyo’s Thomasland for our Thomas-loving 21-month-old. He won’t remember much but perhaps the photos will last…

And finally we will have a week on the largest uninhabited island in the South Pacific visiting some friends. Can’t quite believe our luck.

I am very, very excited. See you soon.

For our upcoming trip overseas, I’ve been preparing my goodie bag of distractions for Rowan on the plane. Rowan does have some experience of flying, as his grandparents live interstate. And perhaps more significantly, I do now have some experience of flying as a mum. Suffice to say, I’ve got a lot better at it over time. These tips on books for travelling with kids are gleaned from our own travels and advice from well-travelled friends…

Books are excellent for travelling because compared to other forms of distraction, they generally have no small parts, and are not messy. (With the best of intentions I took a tub of playdough on one plane flight - big mistake.) With some parent interaction, a good book can be strung out for an extended period of time, especially for the period when the seatbelt sign is on… I’ve found it’s a good idea to take a mix of old favourites and new books Rowan has never seen before. Hiding one of Rowan’s favourite books for a period before we leave also works well.

Here is a list of a few of the types of books we will be taking on this holiday…

1) Small books

A few small books are light and take up minimal space; they also provide variety and it’s not a disaster if you lose one. Golden Books, the Thomas Library books (at $3.95 a pop) and Mr Men books all fit in this category.

2) Busy books

When I say busy books I mean ones with lots of detail and things to look for on every page. A hit for us has been the Thomas’ Really Useful Word Book. This durable large format board book is also great value at $16.95. Each spread pictures Thomas in a different part of Sodor, and shows lots of different objects and animals - at the farm, at the station, at the seaside. Lots of things to find in every picture and there is a bit of a narrative too throughout the book. Unfortunately it is fairly heavy, which may rule it out for this trip…

Also highly recommended are the Richard Scarry books. Haven’t tried these with Rowan yet, but I suspect they would do the job perfectly.

3) Books with stickers

Stickers are another great distraction for travelling. A while ago I picked up this great pad of stickers called ‘Vehicle Movement’ for the grand total of $2.25 from the Queenscliff Newsagency. Of course I’ve never seen them in a newsagent since, and I now wish I’d bought several of them… This one pad of stickers has taken us on several flights already and we’ve shared them with grateful fellow parents on the plane.

This time we will be trying one of Ladybird’s series of books with reusable stickers - we have Let’s get dressed. In this one the two sheets of stickers of clothes and accessories can be used to dress four children inside. Even if Rowan doesn’t like this one, I think I’ll have some fun!

I also found the Play Scene On The Construction Site which despite my best efforts, Rowan spotted and he has already had a tantrum over it. A board folds out and an assortment of diggers, tip trucks, workmen, witches hats and other goodies can be placed on the scene. There are lots more in this series, which you can view here at Mudpuppy. (Click on Sticker Set Play Scenes.)

But there is one more book with great current appeal for Rowan, which really took me by surprise. It is IDEAL for the plane. It’s called Point It, and I found it at Metropolis Books. A passport-sized book, it is a kind of visual dictionary, designed so you can show a picture of something you are trying to communicate to someone who doesn’t speak your language. It has retro 70s photos and illustrations of 1200 items, covering the topics of food, accommodation, transport and shopping. (The transport section guarantees the Rowan appeal…) I initially bought it for a bit of fun. But the more I look at it the more I think it will be useful, and the toddler appeal is a fabulous bonus!!!

A fabulous day for me today. It was a recipe for success: a day in the city (of Melbourne) including a visit to Metropolis (more on that later), a coffee at Degraves, a little bit of shopping and people-watching, a kids’ book illustration exhibition and a stop on the way home at a friend’s house, filled with talk of kids’ books… I. Heart. Melbourne.

It’s amazing how many ideas can be generated from one day on the town when you don’t get out as much as you used to. But I will stay focused, and the topic of this post is the aforementioned kids’ book illustration exhibition. It was called Hooked on Books, exhibited at Artplay, as posted here by Lou. The exhibition runs til 13 June, and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in children’s book illustration.

The exhibition is of original illustrations from a range of Australian picture books, collected by Albert Ullin. Ullin is most famous for establishing the specialist children’s bookshop, The Little Bookroom, here in Melbourne. Ullin’s collection of original illustrations from Australian children’s books was initially driven by his desire to support young illustrators of picture books who were struggling to make a living. In 1973, he started by buying the works of Ron Brooks (illustrator of John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat – reviewed by Lou here – and of one of my favourites, Fox, by Margaret Wild). Later, he was approached by Peter Pavey, a friend of Brooks, who had not yet found a publisher for his illustrations. (Pavey later went on to publish One Dragon’s Dream which became a Children’s Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year.)

Part of the joy of the exhibition was seeing the original artworks for illustrations of books I know well - books by Graeme Base, Bob Graham, Alison Lester, Shaun Tan and Kerry Argent. Seeing the vibrancy of colour in the originals was amazing, as well as the three-dimensional aspect to works which included media such as fabric or paper sculpture. The other part of the joy for me was discovering many books I had not heard of. I took furious notes and have a new long list of books to search for in the library and in second-hand shops… Plenty of inspiration for future posts!

Backpacks for kids seem hard to come by if you are not inspired by the licensed character merchandise à la Dora, Wiggles, Bob and Bratz. But I discovered these gorgeous animal-inspired backpacks, made by Little Packrats, and tracked down their Australian distributor. These are three of my favourites:

I ordered the mouse one for Rowan, and it’s now his childcare bag. Made from thick vinyl, it’s durable and easy to clean, and the 3D ears are so cute. It is smaller than the average kids backpack, which makes it ideal for toddlers and preschoolers – small enough that you don’t attempt to overload it to make it too heavy. Having said that, it’s not really big enough to accommodate ALL our books from the library and for anyone who’s seen the back seat of my car lately, that’s just as well cos I couldn’t reasonably expect a toddler to carry that weight…

Rowan’s bag was bought with the intention that he would wear it on our forthcoming overseas trip. We are going to JAPAN! Yippee! But right now, Rowan hasn’t quite got the idea that he is supposed to wear the bag on his back, so invariably it’s me who can be seen carrying it on my shoulder. So now I’m not so sure that this bag will make the cut with all the new rules on carry-on luggage…

More posts on the travel theme coming soon. Meanwhile, Lou is having a sunny break up north, and some guest posts will be appearing shortly.

I found myself emailing a friend the other day, and the subject line of the email was ‘Potty matters’.

What has life come to? I’m writing an email about potties??! So while I’m at it, what the heck, I’m going to write a post about toilet training children’s books.

There are lots of toilet training books for parents, of course, and most toddler parenting books have at least a chapter on toilet training, but what I’m interested in at the moment is children’s books about the potty, to get Rowan thinking about it. Peer-pressure of the positive variety is a wonderful thing in toddlers, I’m finding. And reading about appealing characters who are starting to use the potty seemed like a good part of the preparation for toilet training.

Once I started researching this topic further, I discovered just how many books there are, not to mention the contraversies! Getting the balance between showing enough detail, making it fun, and encouraging success without making the experience stressful and therefore off-putting…. Gee!

And so following my research I too now feel qualified to enter the fray. Why, oh why, do so many potty books picture the use of a potty as a hat? Isn’t this the last thing you want to show a toddler who hasn’t thought of it yet…? And how can you write a potty book without ever showing someone actually sitting on the thing? Many of the books out there are just too coy about the mechanics…

I have to say that the selection of books on the subject of toilet training do not inspire me as much as most of the other books I have reviewed on this site. But nevertheless, these books seem to me to strike the right balance, and they represent my top 5 books to encourage toilet training… We will be reading these books over the next few months. Any further suggestions gratefully received!

1. I Want My Potty (Tony Ross)

Tony Ross has written a great little series of ‘issues-based’ books for toddlers based on the character of the little princess. His illustrations are very witty, and I love the fact that mum and dad, the king and queen, wear normal clothes and do normal things around the house. In this book, the little princess decides that ‘Nappies are YUUECH!’ This is the type of peer pressure I’m looking for! Tony is a very prolific author/illustrator and apparently this book is his personal favourite. I like it too.

2 . Who’s in the Loo? (Jeanne Willis and Adrian Reynolds)

There’s a very long queue for this loo, and we are taken on a zoological rollercoaster as we imagine which animal is taking so long in the loo. ‘A wandering wombat who wanted a widdle? A waddling penguin too frozen to piddle?’ No practicalities, mechanics or toddler issues in this one, but lots of fun, and I could imagine it might be a handy reference when you are stuck in a public toilet queue…

3. Time to Pee! (Mo Willems)

Written by the author of the popular Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Mo is refreshingly uncoy about showing pictures of the toilet, undies around the ankles and toilet paper. It covers lots of the practicalities without seeming heavy-handed. I love the toilet-covered endpapers!

4. A Potty for Me! (Karen Katz)

Australian and other non-US readers will probably need to substitute some of the terminology in this one (lots of references to ‘diapers’ and ‘peeing’). The form of rhyming text in this one is not my favourite style, but this book does canvass many of the real-life issues, and the bright colours and flaps are appealing. It’s pitched at a young audience - so it’s a good one for the under-twos.

5. Everyone Poops! (Taro Gomi)

This book, and the others mentioned by Lou in her previous post, are a good way to bring some fun into the toilet training caper. The humour will appeal to kids as soon as they start to find excretion hilarious… So much too look forward to…

Lou and I dragged our partners and kids to the Back to Booktown book festival at Clunes on Saturday.

Clunes is situated about 1.5 hours drive from Melbourne, so it’s not really the type of drive you do for only a couple of hours at the other end, but hey, when you’re a busy mum, you take what you can get! And if at least one leg of the car trip is free of a whinging child, you’re pretty happy.

The idea behind a booktown is to create a critical mass of bookshops in order to make a small town a destination, and it’s an idea that is catching on worldwide. The first booktown was in Hay-on-Wye in Wales, and there are now more than 20 booktowns internationally. The Back to Booktown weekend at Clunes is a great way to kick-start the generation of a new booktown.

Clunes is one of those towns that feels like it’s in the middle of nowhere, but from the buildings it’s not hard to imagine it bustling with life in goldrush times. There is evidence of a flush of new life in Clunes, too, which is nice, with lots of brand-spanking newly renovated shops and a couple of swish places to eat and drink. It would be a lovely place for a weekend getaway.

You really need at least a day to explore Back to Booktown properly, and there were plenty of secondhand booksellers to visit, tucked in different buildings around the town. For a bookseller’s view of the festival, check out The Book Grocer’s post – scary stuff.

Unfortunately for Lou and I, there wasn’t a dedicated kids’ section at Clunes, but we each found a treasure at the CFA sale which cost us the grand total of 40 cents! We also bumped into a WeHeartBooks reader, which was lovely!

I’m always envious of those bloggers who show off their thrifting and op-shop finds - so here’s my token effort.

The book is Mandy Moves In by Bodil Selge, originally published in Swedish. I love the idea of the tiny little girl who has installed herself in a corner of the bookshelf with all her furniture. And the production quality of the illustrations is so beautifully of the era.

Speaking of secondhand books, if you haven’t already checked it out, go over and visit the inspiring blog Vintage Kids Books my Kid Loves, there are some beauties there…

My dear friend, Anne-Laure, reminded me of this book in a comment she left for us during our launch competition. Her twin boys, at two-and-a-half, are loving this book, and now Rowan is too. Most nights he is calling out for ‘Truck’ even before he is in his pyjamas…

Duck in the Truck comes from the very talented Jez Alborough, author of our previously reviewed, Hug!. Duck’s truck gets stuck in the muck, so Frog, Sheep and Goat all lend a hand. With the muck and mud involved, you can imagine the mess, but somehow Duck avoids a sticky end.

The combination of a few different vehicles, some mud and expressive animal characters make it a hit for Rowan. And the rhyming text makes it fun to read aloud. There’s nothing worse than a book that tries to rhyme but doesn’t quite hit the mark, but this one is spot-on.