Shirobamba

This classic is a moving portrait of a Japanese childhood. The main character, Kasuko, (the young Yashushi Inoue) is skilfully drawn and sympathetic. The book focusses on his confusions growing up in a complicated family atmosphere and his feelings towards various female members of that family, notably his adopted grandmother, with whom he lives, his absent mother and his aunt (whom he sees as an older sister). The book is readable, beautifully written and well-translated. The only shortcoming is that this is a translation only of Volume One. Volume Two appears not to have been translated at all.