Ghosts for Breakfast

In their first children's book, Terasaki and Shinjo freshen up a familiar story line-the spooky thing that really isn't-by placing their tale in the backyard of Japanese immigrant farmers in 19th-century California. When three anxious neighbors, Mr. Omi, Mr. Omaye and Mr. Ono (known as the "Troublesome Triplets"), visit the boy narrator's house one night, they insist that Farmer Tanaka's field is haunted. The boy and his skeptical father ("Let's get to the bottom of this. Take me to see the ghosts") go out to investigate. Shinjo's acrylics play up the murky blue-green darkness with tendrils of ocean fog; these surroundings, coupled with the howling wind, ("Woo-o-o-o!") prove too much for the boy and he flees. But the ghosts turn out to be harmless daikon-spindly white radishes with hair-like green tops-drying in the night air in preparation for pickling by Mrs. Tanaka. The next morning, the Troublesome Triplets express their gratitude with a bowl of the pickled delicacy: "Best ghost I ever ate," Papa says with a laugh. Terasaki takes a matter-of-fact approach to a bygone era with descriptions that deliver cultural details (e.g., "Soon the fog became very thick, thick as bean paste soup"), while Shinjo's acrylic paintings balance the humor of the hapless trio's assertions as well as the boy's emotional tenor. With flattened perspectives and almost architectural characterizations, the artwork conveys the lovingly worn texture of a generations-old family story, and the comfort that parents offer fearful children of any time and place. Ages 5-9. 

Copyright 2002 Publisher’s Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

K-Gr 1-One evening, the Troublesome Triplets-Mr. Omi ("Oh me"), Mr. Omaye ("Oh my"), and Mr. Ono ("Oh no")-come by a boy's house to tell his father they've seen ghosts- long, skinny white ghosts in Farmer Tanaka's field. After teasing them, the man takes his son out to investigate, and they find that the "ghosts" are actually daikon that have been hung up to dry, and are blowing in the wind. A few days later, the appreciative triplets bring the now pickled daikon over, and the family members eat "ghosts" for breakfast. The story is set on a farm that could be anywhere, but it has the feel of California's San Joaquin Valley, where Terasaki grew up. Shinjo's illustrations picture the Japanese family in Western-style clothes and home. The flat, cartoony aspect of the acrylic art matches the tone of the narrative. In the end, though, the story is pretty thin, and not all audiences might appreciate the humor of the father making fun of both his son and of the elderly triplets. Yet larger libraries, or those with migrant farming or Japanese-American communities, might appreciate this book for its cultural specificity.

Copyright 2002 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.