Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window

I am excited by Totto-Chan's sharing of her childhood. Her ability to recall and replay her childhood captures the way young children think and reason. Experiencing the world through Totto-Chan's eyes for a few chapters is spell binding. Parents and teachers get a powerful reminder of the importance of every communication they have with young children - that the automated responses are frequently as important as the thought out ones. I am now a grandparent. I find myself witnessing through new glasses the interactions of young children of my family as well as those of strangers. I find myself looking for the spirit and excitment and innocence of Totto-Chan in those encounters. I have also wondered at times if the adults would relate to children differently if they had recently experienced the world through Totto-Chan's eyes. One of my daughter's and her seven year old enjoyed reading this together. My other daughter read Totto-Chan to her family of 7 as they drove on a long cross country trip. I now order copies of this book to share with my educator friends and parents of young children.

Also subtitled "The Little Girl At the Window," this is a major Japanese best seller. Encompasses the child's view of what education should be, so has a deeper meaning for educators, parents, and even younger readers with a broad understanding. Highly recommended.

It is an ausome book which features the life of a young, innocent Japanese girl during World War 2. She was expelled from her first school when she was in Grade 1, for disrupting the class by making lots of noise in many ways. The girl left for another school (Tomoe) thinking that her very understanding mother had chosen to leave the school on her on will. Her new school was very unique as its classrooms were actually discarded railroad cars. The headmaster himself was very different from other headmasters. He had looked at education from a different angle altogether. He understood children very well and was a father-figure to Totto-Chan and all the children of the school. The book is divided into many chapters and nearly every chapter teaches a lesson. The book can be read by anybody as it has a mixture of elation,sorrow and adventure.

A heart-warming, and delightful collection of true stories of young Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, a famous television personality in Japan. It begins when Totto-chan ( Tetsuko's nick name) was expelled from the first grade because of her disruptive behaviour. She was then transferred to a very unique school ran by a headmaster who had his own teaching philosophy. The school itself was not in a building but in discarded railroad cars. The book also includes other adventures Totto-chan had been involved in, and also previews what life had been like as a small child in Japan during the outbreak of World War II. I recomend this book to parents, and teachers because of Mr. Kobayashi- the headmaster's philosophy of education. It also makes fun reading for children, as I myself have had this book since I was twelve years old.

Totto-chan is a wonderfully-woven book written through the innocent point of view of a little child. Her looking at the window, whether to the musicians or to a better school, symbolised her imaginative nature and hope for what she wants. Tomoe Gakuen is a unique school and the headmaster is a perfect example of a person who promotes freedom of speech. Although this book is rather simple, I like the way the story slowly unfolds, just like the slow revealing of a curtain to see what's outside the window. It teaches us the importance to be child-like.