When cherry blossoms fall

Learning to appreciate impermanence is the delicate takeaway of Goldsaito and Imamura's conceptual intergenerational tale. In the cold of early spring, young Yuna climbs a gnarled cherry tree and asks her grandmother when it will bloom. Hībāchan answers, "We wait for so long for the blossoms to appear, but then they fall so quickly. Mono-no-aware, ne?" The phrase, Yuna learns, is a Japanese expression celebrating fleeting loveliness: the blossoms "become more beautiful because you know they will soon be gone." It's a concept the child struggles to grasp until the cherry tree blooms during the spring when Hībāchan passes, the wind carrying away the blossoms until only one remains. Decisive-feeling gouache and watercolor brushwork is delightfully tactile, the windblown grasses and cherry blossom explosions conveying nature through texture and movement in a thoughtful picture book that considers multiple seasons of ephemerality. An author's note concludes. Ages 6--8. (Feb.)

A young Japanese girl learns that nature can't be rushed. As the story opens, Yuna is perched in a bare brown tree, amid wintry fields "buttered" with snow. Impatient, she asks her hībāchan (great-grandmother), "When will your sakura tree bloom?" Hībāchan agrees that it's difficult to await the cherry blossoms, only to watch them quickly blow away in the wind soon after they arrive. Nevertheless, this ephemerality is what makes the blooms so beautiful--a quality Hībāchan refers to as "mono-no-aware." As spring approaches, Hībāchan's eyesight dims, and Yuna describes what she sees, from green buds closed "tight as fists" to "the slightest blush of pink" to flowers that resemble sea anemones. Hībāchan appreciatively murmurs, "Ah mono-no-aware, ne?" When Hībāchan dies, the grieving girl climbs the tree; surrounded by bright pink blooms, she remembers her great-grandmother's spirit until the blooms fly away, giving her a firsthand experience of the fleeting nature of beauty and time. Though poetic and gracefully told, Goldsaito's story will likely require explanation of these complex philosophical concepts. Imamura's vibrant, geometric illustration style effectively uses varying perspectives to immerse readers in hanami, or flower watching. Her palette balances the stark browns of winter with the pastel pinks and greens of the coming spring. An elegantly moving, if lofty, exploration of time and transition. (author's note)(Picture book. 4-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.