Book Descriptions
for The Big Bath House by Kyo Maclear and Gracey Zhang
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
The author remembers a childhood visit to her grandmother’s house in Japan, where, as with previous visits, she, her mom, her grandma, her aunts, and her female cousins all go to the bath house shortly after their arrival. The bath house is a place of cultural tradition and family ritual. “Baachan’s stool is a throne. She is the Queen of the Baths. With a tall towel crown, she’ll wash your hair, while the auntie’s scrub each other’s backs.” It’s where the narrator and her cousins do “the soapy-leg can-can.” And it’s where “You’ll all dip your bodies, your newly sprouting, gangly bodies, your saggy, shapely, jiggly bodies, your cozy, creased, ancient bodies. Beautiful bodies.” Then comes a big towel and waiting arms, getting dressed, tasty treats, and a walk home through nighttime streets. “You’ll reach for Baachan’s hand, and she’ll reach for yours. And it’ll be understood. (Some things just go without saying.)” The sense of family love and the joy of reunion is palpable in a picture book that incorporates Japanese words and phrases. The lively ink, gouache, and watercolor illustrations wonderfully reflect the nonchalant normalcy of naked bodies of all types, as well as many other details of the setting. (Ages 3-7)
CCBC Choices 2022. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2022. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
A joyful celebration of Japanese cultural traditions and body positivity as a young girl visits a bath house with her grandmother and aunties
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY New York Public Library • NPR • Publishers Weekly • Kirkus Reviews • Horn Book • The American Library Association • ALA Rise: A Feminist Book Project
You'll walk down the street / Your aunties sounding like clip-clopping horses / geta-geta-geta / in their wooden sandals / Until you arrive... / At the bath house / The big bath house.
In this celebration of Japanese culture and family and naked bodies of all shapes and sizes, join a little girl--along with her aunties and grandmother--at a traditional bath house. Once there, the rituals leading up to the baths begin: hair washing, back scrubbing, and, finally, the wood barrel drumroll. Until, at last, it's time, and they ease their bodies--their creased bodies, newly sprouting bodies, saggy, jiggly bodies--into the bath. Ahhhhhh!
With a lyrical text and gorgeous illustrations, this picture book is based on Kyo Maclear's loving memories of childhood visits to Japan, and is an ode to the ties that bind generations of women together.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY New York Public Library • NPR • Publishers Weekly • Kirkus Reviews • Horn Book • The American Library Association • ALA Rise: A Feminist Book Project
You'll walk down the street / Your aunties sounding like clip-clopping horses / geta-geta-geta / in their wooden sandals / Until you arrive... / At the bath house / The big bath house.
In this celebration of Japanese culture and family and naked bodies of all shapes and sizes, join a little girl--along with her aunties and grandmother--at a traditional bath house. Once there, the rituals leading up to the baths begin: hair washing, back scrubbing, and, finally, the wood barrel drumroll. Until, at last, it's time, and they ease their bodies--their creased bodies, newly sprouting bodies, saggy, jiggly bodies--into the bath. Ahhhhhh!
With a lyrical text and gorgeous illustrations, this picture book is based on Kyo Maclear's loving memories of childhood visits to Japan, and is an ode to the ties that bind generations of women together.
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.
