Kamishibai Man, Written by Allen Say

Summary: In Japan, Kamishibai men are known to ride their bikes into town with a paper theater, candy and wooden blocks. They attract the attention of the public, primarily children, hand out candy and tell stories. This book is about one man in particular who hasn’t been to town for some time but makes the decision to try again. His wife makes some candies and he packs his bike up; he is ready to venture out. Once he reaches town though, he is disappointed to realize how many buildings are sky high, how many cars there are on the road and how many rude people there are! He sets up his theater and begins to clap his wooden blocks. He begins to tell the history of his best days of coming to town as the Kamishibai man, then his struggle to remain an entertainer once television became popular and sadly his last day as the Kamishibai man. As he is telling this long story, people of the town young and old have gathered around him to listen. A man calls out from the crowd that he remembers him and soon most of the townspeople who have gathered remember him from their childhood. The Kamishibai man is interviewed by a television reporter and later discusses with his wife how busy his day was and suggests he may need more candy!

Implementation: The most important theme in this story is tradition. In my opinion, traditions are so important for children and adults. I would use this book to spark conversation about things my students remember from their early years that they’re still doing or something their family does every year. Whether its buying new supplies for school every year, eating dinner with family every Sunday or wearing a purple shirt every Monday. Traditions can be very simple or very complex and vary from culture to culture. I feel that this would be a good way for students to find common ground through discussion of classroom traditions. I would include each student by allowing them to discuss their traditions.