Ba-Chan the Ninja Grandma (Little Kunoichi #3)

Little Kunoichi lives with her ninja family in a nifty tree house complete with a "Nin-Jutsu training room." Summer vacation is ending soon, and Little Kunoichi and her pet, Bunny, are bored and beginning to ask for spendy amusements. Little Kunoichi, Bunny, and "Baby Bro" are sent to visit their scientist and inventor grandma, Ba-chan, on Kame Shima ("Turtle Isle"). There, they embark on a submarine adventure to Ba-chan's underwater amusement park, which--with attractions such as a "Rat Race"--showcases currency's limitations. Ishida illustrates in intricate watercolor art that creates the feeling of a world in miniature, and Ba-chan's message about finding abundance through "Curiosity, / Resourcefulness, kindness, love, /Imagination!" may well reboot summer for ennui-suffering fans of Little Kunoichi the Ninja Girl. Ages 5-9. (Sept.)

PreS-Gr 1—It's summer vacation and Little Kunoichi has exhausted all her favorite activities. Rather than having her laze around their ninja treehouse, her parents decide to send her, her brother, and her pet rabbit to their grandmother. Ba-chan ("Grandma") has all sorts of amazing talents: gardener, poet, inventor of the Kame ("turtle") Submarine, creator of an entire underwater amusement park...there isn't anything that she can't do, and this makes visits with her terribly fun. The entire story is just about their time spent together, eating, and playing. Almost every page is stuffed with the narrated text, extra dialogue, and watercolor illustrations with little details (sometimes several images within its confines). This visually mirrors how busy their schedule is. Kids can learn a lot of neat tidbits about Japanese culture from this latest addition to the series, and it is something that the author encourages. Ishida incorporates a number of Japanese words into the text, only pausing to explain those needed to follow the story; the others are defined in a glossary. Readers unfamiliar with Japanese should be prepared for an irregular use of in-text pronunciation aides. Also, while the words are used correctly, there are several instances in which the author applies the English rules for pluralization. VERDICT A wonderful family adventure; purchase where intergenerational picture books are in demand.—Rachel Forbes, Oakville Public Library, Ont.