Abstract

Mina is camping by a lakeside with her mother and father.

But her family is not the only one enjoying the outdoors. Giant trout swim in the lake, and a family of geese sometimes wanders right up to their tent.

Mina picks raspberries with her mother and eats her fill. The berries they do not eat are made into jam. A child she meets at the campsite shows her a damselfly larva.

Animals and people all breathe the same air.
Everyone lives together on the same planet beneath the same sky.

As Mina lies on the ground, the uneven earth feels a little hard beneath her. Yet somehow, she thinks, the Earth's bed feels comfortable.

A gentle and beautifully illustrated picture book celebrating nature, the Earth, and the connection between all living things, created by a nature-loving artist.

Author’s Information

Born in Gifu, Japan in 1955. A naturalist artist who has developed his own unique world in a wide range of creative picture books and wildlife art. He has received numerous awards, including the Graphic Award at the Bologna International Children's Book Fair, the Gold Medal at the Bratislava World Picture Book Original Drawing Exhibition, and the Grand Prize at the Japan Picture Book Award. His major picture books include "Yamame no Pink" series, "Haru no Yama wa Zawazawa," "Welcome to the Forest," "Blue Hermit Crab," "Yama no Ofuro," "Yakiimo no Hi" (all from Tokuma Shoten), "Yozora no hoshiwa" (Froebel Kan), and many others. There are Yasunari Murakami Picture Book Galleries in Izu-kogen and Ishigaki Island. The "Yamame no Pink" series is a recommended book by the Japanese Committee for the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity.