Naga Chokkanathan

I started reading ‘The Toki-Girl and the Sparrow-Boy‘ mainly because I love Japanese Fairy Tales. I have visited Japan once and liked the people. Even though life was fast-moving (I only saw the cities), most of the people I met had very relaxed personalities and interacted with others with care and affection.

While this book is not a fairy tale, the blurb gave me a similar feel-good experience that I usually feel when I read anything about Japan. Claire Youmans has done an excellent job capturing that spirit and creating a thrilling story around it.

In fact, this story starts with shades of another fairy tale (about straw hats) I had read earlier, and it keeps repeating throughout the story in different ways. This is mainly a good Vs bad fight and talks about kind souls who help the protagonists in their mission, However, it doesn’t stop there, both kids and adults can enjoy it. The story weaves details about Japan culture nicely, providing enough introduction to readers from other countries.

One aspect I liked about the novel: it has many moments which are kind-of short stories or experiences which are enjoyable on their own. For example, the episode about the lucky straw that the Sparrow-Boy gets.

I loved the first part and will look forward to reading the second part. Thank you!

You can read more about this book here: http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/shelves/book.php?id=93932