Abstract

Ten-year-old Saki moves into an old building with strangely connected staircases and corridors to live for a month while her house is being renovated. In an old chest in a room in the building, she finds a hat that she likes, made of several pieces of cloth sewn together. Later, she encounters a girl in the building wearing a similar hat. Her name is Iku, and she dresses somewhat oddly, as though a character from a folk tale. The two become friends and explore the building. One day, Saki meets an elderly lady at an art gallery in the building who says that she too lived in the building for a short period of time 70 years earlier, and that she too encountered a girl named Iku at that time. Saki is shocked to realize that Iku doesn’t actually exist. However, ...the hat is the key to this story in which the past, present, and future blend together. Winner of the 36th Akai Tori Literary Award and the 55th Shogakukan Award for Children's Literature.

Author’s Information

Born in Hakodate, Hokkaido, lives in Sapporo. ``Let's go to a strange place'' (Kaiseisha) and ``Mischievous Grandmother'' (Froebel-kan) won the 18th Circuit Nagoya Ishi Youth Literary Award, ``November Door'' (Libryo Publishing, currently published by Fukuinkan Shoten) ), the 47th Sankei Children's Publishing Culture Award, Fuji Television Award, ``Otomodasa Narima Elementary School'' (Froebel-kan), the 53rd Sankei Children's Publishing Culture Award, the 1st JBBY Award, ``I went to Paris'' Noma (Nora Shoten) won the 59th Noma Children's Literature Award. This book won the 36th Red Bird Literature Award and the 55th Shogakukan Children's Publishing Culture Award. Recent works include the full-length novel ``Yellow Summer Day'' (Fukuinkan Shoten) and the picture fairy tale ``Pisuke no Ide'' (Doshinsha). / Born in Tokyo, lives in Prague, Czech Republic. Won the Grand Prix at the 2003 Bratislava World Picture Book Original Art Exhibition for ``Amefurashi'' (Published by Parolsha, now Kaiseisha). "Masha and the White Bird" (Kaiseisha) won the Grand Prize of the 11th Japan Picture Book Award, "Mori no Otobukuro" (Nora Shoten) won the 58th Sankei Children's Publishing Culture Award Nippon Broadcasting Award, "River Festival Night" ” (Froebel-kan), won the Sankei Children's Publishing Culture Award.