The Japanese Twins

Twins

by Lucy Fitch Perkins

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: Childrens, Historical Fiction, Ebooks

46 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1912

About the author

From a book jacket: "In 1910, at a crowded school in a poor section of Chicago, Lucy Fitch Perkins found children from twenty-seven different countries learning together. This experience instilled in her a vivid awareness of the task that faced American teachers: to bring out of this potpourri of races one unified nation. Her idea grew into a series of stories, some with geographical backgrounds, others with historical settings. Her goal was to increase sympathy and understanding for the unique qualities of the different nationalities and the heritage left to them and to us by our forebears. The Twins books have received acclaim from librarians, teachers, and parents, but, more important, from the children themselves."

Reviews

[TheLibraryOfSarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still not sure how accurate this is, but this is a very sweet story and well-written. I liked how the author wrote it in such a way that it sounds like she's talking to the reader, and I give her a lot of credit writing a book about another culture in a positive light, attempting to teach children about how other people live, in 1912.

[Beth Cato · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a library discard book I've owned for about fifteen years and haven't read through until now. This hardcover, published in 1912, is part of a vast series of books by Perkins where she wrote about children from various cultures and time periods (Filipino Twins, Scotch Twins, Eskimo Twins, etc). By today's standards this would be regarded as a middle grade book, though the content could certainly be read to a younger child.

The text is simple and the illustrations, by Perkins, are really quite cute. The content is very much in the context of the time period and the culture. Taro and Take live with their mother, father, granny and the new baby, Bot Chan. They are descended from samurai. Taro is the boy and is taught he has a great legacy to fulfill. His sister, Take, is told that she's just a girl and her goal in life is to marry, bear her husband's children, and eventually become a mother-in-law. Accurate for 1912? Absolutely. Made me cringe to read (and type just now)? Absolutely.

That aside, the book does have its charms. It tells stories about the day the meet Bot Chan, their special journey to the temple for Bot Chan's one month celebration, and how girls and boys celebrate their birthdays all together on certain days of the year. It's not a bad book when it's regarded in the proper context of the time, but I certainly wouldn't read it to a younger child now, especially a girl.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was leery of reading this book aloud to my child because I was worried that because it is so old that the story would be incorrect or insensitive. But I am glad I did. The book does a good job of portraying Japanese culture, in my opinion. Some of it is no longer relevant to modern culture, such as celebrating one's birthday on Girl's Day or Boy's Day.
It is a free kindle book and the kindle version does not contain illustrations. A loss but it was free so I can't complain.

[Mackenzie]

Fun story as long as you're willing to do a bit of editing (and I'm not normally an "editor" when I read aloud but some of the gender stuff was too much even for me to be comfortable reading to young children). Both my kids (3yrs and 5 yrs) enjoyed this immensely and it led to a fascination with all things Japanese.

[Silvia Cachia]

Just delightful. One of our favorite reads from our weekly readers.

[Sirpa Grierson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read quite a few of the Twins series as a fourth grader. They were in the Sunnyside Elementary School library and along with other series books. Increased my reading speed and were informative about cultures around the globe. Quaint, as the reader is drawn into depictions of Japanese family life and culture as seen through Perkin's early 1900s lens.

This was a nostalgia read for me, but certainly not on par with many other children's books that I loved. Simple and cozy.

[Ashley Lambert-Maberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just adore this series. Does anyone else think Ms. Perkins is a long-ago closet feminist? She makes this adorable characters come to life, they act like real children, the girl twin is clearly the equal of the boy twin, and yet (wherever they're born, so far in the series--I've read Dutch and Japanese only--) society tells the girl "you're limited, you're not as special, you get fewer choices." It's very frustrating, and I think Perkins intends readers to walk away with a huge dose of "but that's not fair!"

I actually know a bit about the Netherlands and Japan--I'm half Dutch, and I've been learning to read/write/speak Japanese and am absorbing the culture along the way. She hasn't written anything that I know to have been false.

They're really slice of life stories, set in the past (when they were written), detailing the perfectly observed differences of behaviour between one society and another. Charming, easy to read, informative--what's not to love!

I felt there was a little more incident/plot in the Dutch one, so only like this one nearly as much, which was a lot.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!

[A Hoppy Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Jaeger Matthias]

Interesting