A Review of "Guri and Gura's Special Gift " (a Japanese picture book with a lovely story and illustration)

Hello!  Thank you very much for visiting my blog. 


  • I am Toko of Tokyo.  I am a 40-year-old Japanese woman and lives in Tokyo with my husband and 5-year-old daughter.  
  • In this blog, I mainly introduce Japanese and English picture books I have enjoyed with my daughter. 


  • Today, I will review a Japanese picture book, Guri and Gura's Special Gift written by Rieko Nakagawa and illustrated by Yuriko Yamawaki. 


  • The direct translation of the original Japanese title 『ぐりとぐらとすみれちゃん』is Guri and Gura and Sumire-chan.  Guri and Gura are the two field mice who wear blue or red hats & clothes, and have been very popular among Japanese children for a long time.  Sumire-chan is a little girl, and "Sumire" means violet in Japanese.  


ぐりとぐらとすみれちゃん

posted with ヨメレバ

中川李枝子/山脇百合子（絵本作家） タトル出版 2005年06月

  • Spoilers ahead, so if you do not want to know the content beforehand, please read the book itself first!  
  • The series of "Guri and Gura" is characteristic of a story which is simple and daily-atmospheric, but very fascinating to children, and illustration which is very pretty and adorable as well as quite original.  
  • The writer Rieko Nakagawa and the illustrator Yuriko Yamawaki are, in point of fact, real sisters, and they head the list of best combinations in the Japanese-picture-book world.   
  • In this picture book Guri and Gura's Special Gift, readers find farm products such as carrots & runner beans which Guri and Gura take care of in their own garden, and of course, the "special gift" which a little girl named Violet brings to Guri and Gura's house: a huge squash!  
  • The squash is so big and hard that Guri and Gura cannot cut it open with their kitchen knife or saw. (On page 14, Guri and Gura are putting their ears to the big squash.  This illustration is as cute as can be and my daughter's favorite😄)
  • Then, what will Violet do in order to split the squash open?
  • She does it in a rather unexpected way, so why don't you pick up the book yourself and check the answer?
  • I think children will be excited to find Violet's bold way of splitting the squash open!  
  • Actually, I am such a food lover and  therefore, a real sucker for meal scenes written and illustrated in various books. 
  • In Guri and Gura's Special Gift, readers can see Guri and Gura eat lovely breakfast on the former pages and Violet and animal friends cook and eat a variety of delicious squash dishes & sweets outdoors on the latter pages.  
  • I think you will enjoy these attractive food scenes just like many Japanese readers! 
  • And last but not least, the last scene deserves attention: Guri and Gura plant some squash seeds in their garden!  This ending scene tells children that something may not be over when we eat it; one ending may lead to another hopeful opening.  The ending scene which implies a new beginning is ingenious, isn't it?  

That is all for this time.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you will enjoy Guri and Gura's Special Gift, too!  


English Article