Komako Sakai, Author . Chronicle $14.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-8118-5219-7
With its soft charcoal outlines, three-color images and matte pages, Japanese author-artist Sakai's book looks as if it could have been published in the early '60s, yet her theme is timeless. The measured pacing of the text and roomy spreads
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Komako Sakai, Author . Scholastic/Levine $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-545-01321-5
Snow has been falling all night, and when a small rabbit awakens, he learns that kindergarten is closed, his mother can't go to the store, and his father's flight home has been canceled. “Mommy, we are all alone in the world,”...
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Komako Sakai, Scholastic/Levine, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-545-21209-0
This honest account of a small rabbit's angry outburst and the contrast between the adorable protagonist and his simmering emotions demonstrate Sakai's (The Snow Day) uncanny ability to tap into children's feelings. "And you always tell me to hurry...
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Komako Sakai, trans. from the Japanese by Yuki Kaneko. Enchanted Lion (Consortium, dist.), $17.95 (40p) ISBN 978-1-59270-128-5
Everyone remembers that the Velveteen Rabbit receives a fairy’s gift of life. But at its core, Margery Williams’s classic story is about stark realities: humans are brusque and unreliable, toys wear out, and—above all—one is either real or one is...
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Komako Sakai, trans. from the Japanese by Cathy Hirano. Gecko Press USA (Lerner, dist.), $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-8775-7954-7
Sakai (Mad at Mommy) draws a series of portraits of Hannah, a girl of perhaps three or four who wakes while it’s still dark and finds that everyone else in the house is still asleep. What looks at first like a spooky setup (“When Hannah shook her,”...
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