Book Review - Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi

Title: Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window 窗邊的小徹, 窗邊的小荳荳, 小徹在學校裏, 愛心教育
Author: Tetsuko Kuroyanagi 黒柳徹子
Year: 1981 (1984 in English)
Page: 232
Genre: Memoir

FTC Disclosure: I bought this one

Summary (from goodreads.com):

This engaging series of childhood recollections tells about an ideal school in Tokyo during World War II that combined learning with fun, freedom, and love. This unusual school had old railroad cars for classrooms, and it was run by an extraordinary man-its founder and headmaster, Sosaku Kobayashi-who was a firm believer in freedom of expression and activity.

In real life, the Totto-chan of the book has become one of Japan's most popular television personalities-Tetsuko Kuroyanagi. She attributes her success in life to this wonderful school and its headmaster.
The charm of this account has won the hearts of millions of people of all ages and made this book a runaway bestseller in Japan, with sales hitting the 4.5 million mark in its first year.

First Sentence: 
They got off the Oimachi train at Jiyugaoka Station, and Mother took Totto-chan by the hand to lead her through the ticket gate.

My Thoughts:

• I hardly ever re-read books. I read this book, in Chinese, when I was a kid and loved it. I had re-read the version multiple times, though the last time I read it was probably 15-20 years ago. I left that book for my sister when I moved to the US. Since there are no Chinese bookstores nearby, and for one reason or another I never looked into Chinese online bookstore, I found an English version on ebay instead. I bought it a while back, and never got around to reading it. A few years later, I was thinking about this book and totally forgot I already bought a copy, so I bought it off ebay again. I didn't know until later when I organized my bookshelf... Even after buying the 2nd copy, I didn't read it until this year when I had the urge to read it again. 

• I was almost a bit afraid to re-read in case it didn't live up to the expectation - sometimes, memories are better than reality. Plus I had never read the English version before, so I didn't want to be disappointed because of the translation (granted, it was originally written in Japanese, so my Chinese version was still a translation...) 

• But I should not have worried. I still loved this book. This was based on the author's childhood around WWII, the majority of the book was so full of innocence, but the end of the book was heartbreaking. The author (or Totta-chan as she was affectionately known as) was just the cutest girl who was so loving, loyal and creative. I loved the stories about her and her classmates and her dog. Her parents were just so understanding. But most of all, my absolutely favorite was the Principal of the school she went to, Sosaku Kobayashi. He inspired me to be an educator, and I remember I SOOO wished I could have gone to his school, and have teachers like him. He didn't follow the traditional teaching method, instead, he taught in a way that made learning fun. He wanted them to have a balance in their school subjects - so they had music, dance, library, sports, field trips to experience real people's lives (e.g. farmers) and so forth. This is all that more amazing since this was based on a true story.

• The book was a series of stories. Even though I don't like to read short stories, I have no problem with this book since the characters are still the same. My favorite story was Sports Day - and it really demonstrated the Principal's love for the children - he designed the games himself, so that the children who suffered from physical disability could also participate. He didn't want any children to feel disadvantaged or suffer low self-esteem because of it. And the price for winning? Fresh vegetables! How brilliant is that?

• The English version also had an epilogue - I don't recall this section in the Chinese version (the English version I had was published in 1996). It talked about what happened to everyone in the book years later, and I appreciate knowing as I had been wondering all these years! It also included an author's note, where she talked about why she did NOT want to make this into a movie despite all the offers she had.

• This is a book I highly recommend. Even after all these years, it is still a 5 Stars book for me. I hardly ever gave 5 Stars. I still cry when I read parts of the book. I still wonder why we couldn't have better educational system. I am still inspired. 

Quote:
No quote, because I'd be quoting the whole book.


Overall Rating:

5 Stars. Can't get any better.

All reviews and posts are copyrighted by Christa @ Mental Foodie. Please do not use or reprint them without written permission.

Book Review - Not by Chance Alone: My Life as a Social Psychologist by Elliot Aronson

Title: Not by Chance Alone: My Life as a Social Psychologist
Author:  by Elliot Aronson
Year: 2010
Page: 304
Genre: Memoir

New to me author? Yes
Read this author again? YES!
Tearjerker? No
Where did it take place? US
FTC Disclosure: Borrowed from the library

Summary (from goodreads.com):
How does a boy from a financially and intellectually impoverished background grow up to become a Harvard researcher, win international acclaim for his groundbreaking work, and catch fire as a pioneering psychologist? As the only person in the history of the American Psychological Association to have won all three of its highest honors—for distinguished research, teaching, and writing— Elliot Aronson is living proof that humans are capable of capturing the power of the situation and conquering the prison of personality.A personal and compelling look into Aronson’s profound contributions to the field of social psychology, Not by Chance Alone is a lifelong story of human potential and the power of social change

First Sentence:
Parents love to tell stories about their children.

Why did I pick this book?
I was browsing the library New Non-Fiction shelves and saw this book. I haven't heard of Elliot Aronson before, but I was a psych major and social psychology was my favorite subject, so I thought I'd I'd read this as I am still interested in psychology.

My thoughts:

• I almost returned this book, without reading it, because I had too many books borrowed from the library and want to return some that I don't think I am in the mood to read anymore (happens a lot). I mean, I am interested in a book about social psych, but the cover is kinda boring looking, and the title isn't very catchy.... however the 10 reviews on amazon were all 5 stars, and the 2 reviews on goodreads were both 5 stars too... so I thought I'd read a few pages before bed to judge for myself. It was almost midnight and I was going to go to bed soon as I was tired, but I ended up reading 60 pages and if I didn't have to get up early the next day I'd have stayed up later!

• While reading this book, it was almost like listening to your grandparents (or parents) telling you their childhood stories and what it was like back in the days. It was honest, and I appreciated his dry humor - this is taken from the Acknowledgments (p263): The problem is compounded when the work in question is an autobiography. How can I avoid thanking my first grade teacher, who taught me how to read, or my first employer, who fired me, thus closing the door on a career as a produce manager at a supermarket, or my first girlfriend, who taught me that she didn't always want me to take no for an answer?

• His relationship with his brother was also touching, and the love he and his wife had for each other is admirable. I think he really demonstrated the "show, not tell" technique when he described these relationships. 

• And he was definitely PASSIONATE about what he did, even though he kinda stumbled upon social psychology at first and discovered his love for the subject (hence the title). He was also a great professor, and I wish I had more professors like him! I think a great teacher really make or break a subject. Sometimes, it's not so much about what they teach you, but HOW they teach you.

• Even though I don't recall his name when I picked up the book, I do remember some of the theories he mentioned in the book (I have a tendency to forget names, but remember the concept). Just to remind myself - cognitive dissonance,  jigsaw classroom and hypocrisy paradigm (p241-243), e.g. "invited students to sign a poster urging everyone to conserve water by taking shorter showers. (Students were happy to sign the poster; after all, everybody believes in conserving water.) We then made half of them mindful of their hypocrisy by asking them to estimate how long their own most recent showers had been. Students in the hypocrisy condition showed, on average (3.5 minutes) - a fraction of the time spent in the shower by those in the control condition. - I knew from my years of research on cognitive-dissonance theory that change is greater and lasts longer when behavior precedes attitude, when people are not simply admonished to change but placed in a situation that induces them to convince themselves to change.

• Most of all, this book really inspires and speaks to me. It reignites something within me that I'd forgotten about - my love for social / applied / experimental psychology. After graduating from college, I really wanted to go to grad school for psychology (you can't do much with an undergrad psych degree). However, due to circumstances, I ended up with a MBA instead (plus there are no local grad school for psych). As I was reading this book, I mentioned more than once to my husband (who also had studied psych and liked it) how much I missed doing experiments in psychology. It sparked a series of research online to see what is available out there - are there any distance or online degrees I could take? Are there any conferences I could go to? Or more importantly, what can I do to apply psychology in my day job (which I do like a lot)? 

• It was very timely to read this book in December, as I plan what I want to achieve in 2011 and I am excited! 

• PS - for those with no interest in psychology, I don't know if you'd be as inspired as I was with this book. However, I think if you are into memoir, you'd still enjoy it. The writing flows easily, and this book is more than just about psychology - it's about doing something you love, family relationships, mentoring / teaching and more.

Quote:

But, more important, Gurwitsch had shown me, almost wordlessly, that it was a good thing -- perhaps even a noble thing -- to be able to love a book, an idea, with which you disagreed." (p81)

Although it's true that changing people's attitudes sometimes changes their behavior, if you want a more powerful change to take place, you will try to evoke a change in behavior first; attitudes will follow. (p108)

All I had to do was identify the law, hone it into a testable hypothesis, and invent a procedure to get at the essence of that hypothesis. (p113)

I gave Merrill a crash course in acting. "You don't simply say that the assistant hasn't shown up," I said. "You fidget, you sweat, you pace up and down, you wring your hands, you convey to the subject that you are in real trouble here. And then, you act as if you just now got an idea. You look at the subject, and you brighten up." (p116)

Rating: 5 Stars

 

Have you read this book? 
If you have, I would love to hear what you think! I'll link your review here if you wish!

Challenges:
100+ Reading
Memorable Memoir

Science Books 

Book Review - The Red Tree by Shaun Tan

Title: The Red Tree 
Author: Shaun Tan 
Year: 2008 
Page: 32 
Genre: Graphic novel

New to me author? No 
Read this author again? Yes!!
Tearjerker? No 
Where did it take place? Anywhere!
FTC Disclosure: Borrowed from the library

Summary (from amazon.com):
An astonishing fable in picture-book format. A girl moving through landscapes of hopelessness and isolation encounters an image of hope on the book's final page. Through the weight of her sorrow, readers conclude, on both intellectual and emotional levels, that living in despair is waiting for hope. Tan's sophisticated mixed-media illustrations include fantasy and dream elements, and subtle symbolism packed together with an array of art techniques ranging from complicated cut-paper collages to Drescher-like paintings, but serious. These complex pictures send visual impressions powerful enough to cause readers to gasp as a new page is revealed. The simple, direct text ("darkness overcomes you" or "sometimes you just don't know what you are supposed to do"), often poetic ("the world is a deaf machine"), serves both as an entryway into the complicated illustrations, and as an enhancement to them. Perhaps too sophisticated in its point of view for some youngsters, this is nonetheless a book of amazing beauty, high quality, and distinguished artistry.

First Sentence:
Sometimes the day begins with nothing to look forward to...

 
Why did I pick this book?
After reading the Arrival by Shaun Tan, I can't wait to read his other books! I have also borrowed Tales From Outer Suburbia and The Lost Thing.

My thoughts:

• This book has a bit more words than The Arrival, which is wordless :) 

• The story is rather simple, but on-so-true...

• While the drawing is not as detailed or realistic as that of The Arrival, but I really, really love the drawings (or are they paintings?) of this book - it is simple but beautiful. I am very, very tempted to buy the book just to frame the pages up. (need to finish painting the rooms before I can decide where I could hang up art... so not buying the book yet)

• I think I like the Red Tree just a tad better than the Arrival just because of its whimsical quality

• Shaun Tan is no doubt very talented! I will probably read The Lost Thing (a little more words yet!) before Tales From Outer Suburbia which has a lot more words (short story format)! So it'll be interesting to see the balance of words and drawings.

• No Quote (I'll probably end up quoting the whole book!) but I'll leave you some pictures!

 













Rating: 5 Stars

 

Have you read this book? 
If you have, I would love to hear what you think! I'll link your review here if you wish!

Challenges:
100+ Reading