The Boy in the Garden begins with a one-page myth that a Japanese mother reads to Jiro, her son, and the main character in The Boy in the Garden. The rest of the story combines the myth and imagination and ends with him waking from a dream. The mix of genres will encourage children to ask and then help answer many questions, so this book would also be good for asking questions reading strategy lessons.

Jiro and his father are visiting a man with a beautiful and famous garden in the book, and Jiro is to mind his manners. I would think Jiro would be between 4 and 6 years old, although the story doesn't say. They are visiting on New Year's, and Jiro is given a money envelope as is the custom in many Asian countries. When the men begin talking, Jiro wanders to the garden as he sees a crane statue and thinks about the myth his mother told him.

From there a magical story similar to the myth happens in a garden building. Jiro feels the crane becomes a woman who visits him and makes him some soup. Jiro wants to take care of the woman, and goes out into the snow to buy things to eat, but finds nothing. Why could he find no firewood? Would he be using his New Year's money to buy food? Why was there snow and dark skies when the garden was so green and it was a sunny day? ( )

While his father visits with Mr. Ozu, Jiro sees a lifelike statue of a crane in Mr. Ozu's famous garden and imagines he is living the story of "The Grateful Crane," which his mother told him and which is included as the first page of the book.
Lovely, serious illustrations. ( )

In the world of a child it can sometimes be hard to distinguish reality from fantasy. The Boy In The Garden is not only good for discussing cultural differences, but also for discussing curiosity and how it drives the human spirit. The boy finds himself imagining the folktale of the crane woman coming to life, and him being the one who saves her. ( )

Visiting the home of famed gardener Mr. Ozu at the new year, young Jiro, who had always loved the traditional Japanese tale of The Grateful Crane (also sometimes known as The Crane Wife), is attracted to a crane he sees standing in the grounds. Embarrassed when he is observed by Mr. Ozu and his father creeping up on the bird, which turns out to be a statue, rather than a living creature, Jiro runs off, eventually finding his way to a seemingly deserted cottage. Here he meets a beautiful woman who seems like she might be the transformed crane of his favorite story. Has Jiro entered the world of folklore, or is there another explanation...?

As someone who loved folk and fairy-tales as a girl, and often imagined myself into the world of whatever story I was reading, I enjoyed The Boy In the Garden immensely. It offers a tribute to the power of childhood imagination, which makes anything seem possible, and through which the everyday world is remade in fantastic ways. I appreciated the juxtaposition of modern and traditional Japanese life shown here, as well as the inclusion of the original folktale that inspired Jiro's adventures at the beginning of the book. As always with Allen Say's books, the artwork was simply beautiful, with excellent use of color and light to create paintings that draw the reader into their world. Recommended to young folk and fairy-tale enthusiasts, and to anyone looking for stories about children and their imaginative world. ( )

This book would be a good book to introduce multicultural studies for Asian American culture. This book is fun because kids would want to imagine themselves in other stories and that's what the boy does. The best ages would be 2-5 and could segue into talking about dreams and having the students write their own scenarios.