Big Nuisance

by Junko Morimoto, Isao Morimoto (Translator)

Sleepy Village is a quiet place, Life in Sleepy Village is very slow and nothing's changed for a long, long time ... until the meddlesome giant Big Nuisance comes to stay and starts a whole lot of trouble! Now the villagers must come together to defeat the Big Nuisance. This is a wickedly funny fable by one of Australia's best-loved book artists.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Junko Morimoto (1932–) graduated from Kyoto University of Fine Art and worked as an art teacher at an Osaka high school before becoming Art Director of the Children's Art Studio in Osaka. Her books, which include The Inch Boy, Mouse's Marriage, and My Hiroshima, have been published in the United States, Japan, Australia, England, and other European countries. My Hiroshima is now used as a text in Hiroshima high schools to study English and to promote peace. Junko currently lives in Australia.

Reviews

[Cheriee Weichel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big Nuisance, a giant, visits a sleepy Japanese Village and wrecks havoc on the inhabitants. This folktale is both philosophical and humorous, like when the giant, who is having a bath in the lake, farts and the villagers run from the smell. Big Nuisance decides to make the village more interesting. He reroutes the river into tiny streams. He moves the the houses together on a higher side of the village.
Then, while the tired giant lay sleeping, a bird dropped a seed into his ear and a tree grew from it. The tree created pain for Big Nuisance and he begged the villagers to remove it. A deal was reached, and the villagers worked together to help him in exchange for the giant promising to not be a nuisance. The tree landed on the roof of the sacred temple, but ends up bearing fruits that make the villagers happy. In the end, the interesting changes Big Nuisance made in the village make the villagers life better.
In the final lines of the book we are left wondering who and what was Big Nuisance and did he really leave the village?

[Jack Kirby and the X-man · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first Junko Morimoto book I've read which she has written as well as illustrated. Her previous work has focussed on illustrating adaptions of traditional Japanese folk tales.

As usual Junko's illustrations are first class.

I don't think Junko nailed the story. Part of this could be because she wrote the original story in Japanese, and it was then translated into English by Isao Morimoto. This process makes it difficult to obtain many of the elements of a successful, amusing, children's book - rhyme, rhythm and word-play. But given Junko's previous, more serious, work it was fantastic to see a fart feature prominently. I felt that the ending chosen for Big Nuisance lacked a certain something.

Overall a valliant effort - but I prefer her earlier work.

[Jane Stadermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a cool book of epic proportions. Light-hearted and direct with super illustrations. A giant, Big Nuisance, wanders into a lazy village and creates chaos before everything settles for the better. I love a big bumbling giant who is clueless and a hoard of lazy little people who are forced into action. Buy it.

I looked up Junko Morimoto, who is obviously a lady with a switched-on sense of humour. But she has been privy to hell. She was there when the Hiroshima Bomb was dropped and has seen the appalling mess that humans can make of this world and themselves. She moved to Australia in the early '80's.