Kenju's Forest Playground — Kenji Miyazawa

Kenju is 'different.' He sees things that others don't. Not because the things he sees are imaginary, but because other people don't bother to look as closely as he does. Unfortunately when he tries to tell others about the beautiful sights and sounds of nature that he notices all around, the children laugh at him, and so he tries to hide his great pleasure. But with Kenju's help, the children learn to see beauty in nature. (approx 2500 words)

About the Author
Kenji Miyazawa is one of Japan's best known and well-loved writers and poets. He was born in what is now Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, in 1896. Although the eldest son of a wealthy pawnbroker and landowner, Kenji was a deeply spiritual person who led a frugal life, and when he wasn't writing, volunteered a great deal of his time teaching farmers how to improve their crop yields, or organizing concerts for classical music in his local village. He was a prolific writer who completed hundreds of works, but only a small collection of those were published during his lifetime, his reputation as one of Japan's greatest storytellers only coming after his death (1933 - aged 37). The character in Kenju's Forest Playground is closely aligned with Kenji Miyazawa's poem Ame ni mo makezu (I won't Be Beaten by the Rain), also available through Little J Books.

About Little J Books
Little J Books publishes classic children's stories from the best of Japan's storytellers. Kenji Miyazawa, Nankichi Niimi and Ryunosuke Akutagawa. They are three of Japan's greatest storytellers, and each one has a collection of works that is world class. We will announce each of the stories or collection of stories as they are published on our Facebook page and from our homepage, so please sign up to our Facebook page and/ or our mailing list to get discount coupons and be the first to read each book in the series.

Thanks for reading.
Paul Quirk
Founder & Translator
Little J Books