The Crane Girl

When Yoshiko's brother is born (``he was tiny and soft and smelled like morning after the rain''), the girl is no longer the center of her family's loving attention. A forlorn Yoshiko asks the cranes if she might become one of them--``Then I could be your baby and dance with you. Then I would be happy.'' The girl's wish is granted; suddenly she receives all the coddling she desires, until one day she visits her human family and overhears them lamenting ``their beloved daughter, Yoshiko, and how they missed her.'' So Yoshiko becomes a human child once more, with a new understanding of the power and extent of parental affection. In an often poetic reworking of a familiar theme, Charles invests her tale with poignance and a timeless universality--despite its specific, skillfully rendered setting. (A brief afterword explains Oriental artifacts and the significance of cranes.) With meticulous brush strokes suggesting woven textures, Charles's illustrations aptly convey both a sprawling Oriental landscape and the closeness of family. Such careful touches as a single red line framing each page make this a handsomely produced version of a durable tale. Ages 3-6. (Mar.)