I found our copy of いちにのさんぽ (Ichi Ni no Sanpo) at a second hand bookshop in Japan, and I got a lot of value for my 200 yen.
The story is simple, but progresses as the child in the story (boy? girl? don’t know and it doesn’t matter) goes for a walk, meeting a line-up of increasingly sized creatures to invite along. First an ant, then a dog, progressing through to a dinosaur.
It was an instant hit for our 1 year old with the rhythm in its language. One-two, let’s go for a walk. Hello ant, shall we go for a walk together? The simple joy of going for a walk turns into a great short story for kids who are just about toddlers themselves.
It got even better when we had a visitor from Japan read this book to our son, who changed up the rhythm of the words compared to the way I had read it. Who knew another level of sophistication could come from a simple book. This book was fun.
Enjoyment rating (max = 5 koi-nobori): (Explanation)
My kids: 🎏🎏🎏🎏
Me: 🎏🎏🎏🎏🎏
Author: ひろかわさえこ (Saeko Hirokawa)
Publisher: アリス館
🎏