I recently went to visit some of my niblings in Iowa (IOWA?!), and one of my favorite parts of preparing for the trip was shopping for picture books to read with them. With a kiddo cuddled up on each side, I read at least a dozen books (several multiple times each!) – and loved absolutely every minute of it, even when my voice went a little hoarse. One of those hit picture books was a picture book/chapter book hybrid, Little Shrew, written and illustrated by Akiko Miyakoshi, and translated by the Kids Can Press staff. It. Is. So. Great. Little Shrew’s slice of life story is understated, beautiful, and delightfully charming. It’s going in every holiday stocking this winter!
Little Shrew is diligent in all parts of life. He’s a hard worker and follows a strict schedule from morning to night. But even a life that runs like clockwork can be filled with unexpected pockets of joy, such as solving a puzzle for the very first time, enjoying the scent of freshly baked bread, seeing the vast beauty of a shimmering blue ocean or delighting in a visit with friends.
This collection of three short stories – perfect for emerging readers – is illustrated in Miyakoshi’s signature soft monochrome palette with pops of color. The charming tales celebrate enduring friendships, dreams for the future and the little pleasures that make everyday life more meaningful.
Little Shrew lives a disciplined life in the human world – he lives in a small and neat apartment, he takes the same train every day to his job, and he lunches with a colleague named Tom in the cafeteria. Little Shrew looks forward to simple pleasures, like the smell of warm bread from the bakery he stops by after work, solving his Rubik’s Cube, and visits with a couple of animal friends that live far away and visit once in a long while. The book’s three short chapters offer a slice-of-life look into Little Shrew’s world, and the simple charm of his scheduled and ordinary life will appeal to readers of all ages, but perhaps particularly young children who can’t imagine a life without, well, children in it, or what unpartnered adult life looks like at all. Little Shrew is an animal of course, but he is an anthropomorphized one, and his routine may offer an unexpected window into the lives of others.
Little Shrew is an unusually sized book – chapter book-sized, but with sparse text and lots of illustrations – some which are quite small and go right with the text, and others which take up most, or a whole page, or even a two-page spread. This variety in illustrations, paired with a small font size and some more advanced vocabulary, make it both a good read-aloud for those with stamina, and also mean it will be a hit with emerging readers who have graduated a bit beyond picture book pacing but still want to see pictures. In that way, it reminded me a bit of Arnold Lobel’s (of Frog and Toad fame) books. My niblings, aged three and a half and almost six, sat quietly for the whole book at least three times and loved pointing out the tiny details (and where Little Shrew was) in the illustrations. My adult brother laughed out loud at some of the subtle humor in the text that the kiddos didn’t pick up on – so I can say that it is a people-pleaser across the board.
Speaking of those illustrations! Miyakoshi’s art transitions between charcoal black and white illustrations with lots of texture, shadow, and light, and the full-color brightness of pencil and acrylic gouache paints. Tiny objects are illustrated in loving detail, while larger scenes, such as the morning train ride, have a more blurred appearance for a dreamlike and hazy feel. The mix of art feels… artful, for lack of a better word. There’s plenty of detail and repeated features or items to focus on and appreciate in multiple reads, but there are also unexpected moments and pops of color that appear just once. Overall, the objects in this book are (and this hurts me to say it) historical – the telephones are landlines with long, curling cords, for example – but this lends charm and a bit of timelessness to the story. They also lend a bit of a fantastical and cozy feel to a story where a tiny shrew already works a desk job at an airport!
In all, Little Shrew is an absolutely lovely and cozy sort of book, about an unassuming life that is nevertheless full of small moments of wonder and contentment.
Recommended for: read alouds for children ages 3+, and for independent readers ages 6+ who haven’t outgrown their love for pictures in books (and who has, at that age! or any age!). Also for fans of picture books in translation, and beautifully designed and illustrated books, period.
