Wabi Sabi

Written by Mark Reibstein

Narrated by Jennifer Ikeda

Hailed as "simply beautiful" by Kirkus Reviews, this is the poetic tale of Wabi Sabi, a Japanese cat who doesn't understand her name. As she travels across the country searching for answers, she begins to understand the most wonderful things are often those that seem most ordinary. Author Mark Reibstein's innovative use of haiku makes Wabi Sabi perfect for reading aloud. "This book is a tour de force, with meanings to be discovered on many levels." -Children's Literature

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 22, 2013
• ISBN: 9781470356866

Reviews for Wabi Sabi

[liz.mabry · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful.

[cheryl_in_cc_nv · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

wow. utterly gorgeous. but I really don't know if kids like it?

[dorthys-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wabi Sabi is a plain brown cat that tries to find out what she is called Wabi Sabi. She goes to great lengths to discover something that makes her feel very content in the end.. This book is very well illustrated with Haiku on each page, giving the reader the sense of a culture different from what their's might be. This is a great picture book for young children.

[kberryman44 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

With beautiful artwork, and a humorous premise, Wabi Sabi is a fun adventure about learning the meaning of ones name. I keep this book on my classroom bookshelf, and most of my students love the non-traditional format of the book (reading top to bottom). Overall, it is a great picture book that will have readers thinking about the meanings of their own names.

[jennifereckley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the story, Wabi Sabi, by Mark Reibstein. The big idea in this story was a cat on a mission to find out the meaning of his name. The cat, Wabi Sabi, seeks guidance and asks another cat, a dog, and a bird as well as a monkey, what his name meant. The answer was simple. It meant all simple things. The story is written in a non-traditional fashion. The book is read from top page to the bottom page, instead of from the left page to the right page. The story also has regular text as well as haiku’s on each page. The reason why the author uses haiku’s is that they give the reader a sense of nature. The meaning of the name, Wabi Sabi, is simplicity in all things, like nature.

[larasimmons2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is a different kind of book. It focuses mostly on a cat, Wabi Sabi, who goes out to learn the significance of her name. The Japanese identify Wabi Sabi as accepting yourself based on three concepts: imperfections, incompleteness, and impermanence. These three concepts create the theme or main point of the book.I like the book. It is mixed media in two different methods: writing style and illustrations. For example the author switched from prose to haikus. I find this an interesting way to introduce poetry. Traditional books are usually either prose or poetry not both. I also like how the cat is unsure about what wabi sabi means, and searches until she grasps the concept.I really enjoyed the illustrations. The collage method really added to the story. For example, each image of the cat had texture that made it almost like you could feel the cat. The other cat and the dog Wabi Sabi comes across have similar details. The colors were mostly earth tones, which I felt were good additions to the mood of the story.

[abigailadams26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wabi Sabi, a little cat living just outside Kyoto, sets out to discover the meaning of her name - something that everyone seems to find "hard to explain" - in this gorgeous picture-book. When Snowball the cat and Rascal the dog have no answers for her, our feline heroine sets off for Mt. Hiei, to see the wise old monkey Kosho. It is here, holding Kosho's simple tea-cup, gazing at the woods around, and coming upon Ginkakuji - the "Silver Temple" - that she finally understands: Wabi Sabi is the feeling that beauty is to be found in the simple, the small, and the imperfect...A thoughtful, contemplative narrative, incorporating haiku poetry with prose, Wabi Sabi is also a visually arresting book, with stunning collage-art by Ed Young, who won a Caldecott Medal for his work on Lon Po Po. I know very little of the art form of haiku, and had never before encountered the term Wabi Sabi, but this idea of the beauty to be found in imperfection is one I have often pondered, and I was reminded of the poetry of William Carlos Williams while reading this. It somehow seems appropriate that my introduction to Wabi Sabi came in a book meant for children - those "small" people amongst us. Thank you, Chandra, for recommending this one!

[mparis_31 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wabi Sabi doesn't know the meaning of her name and she goes in search of it far and wide. She finally finds the beauty of her name in a reflection of herself. Haiku is used to help her understand the beauty in nature around her. Amazingly illustrated through use of textural collage. This story is beautifully told of the meaning of Wabi Sabi.Classroom connection: Study of Japan/Japanese culture, learning about haiku

[hartleyca · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful Ed Young art with torn paper collage, haikuAvailable in soundrecording

[pjw1173 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is about a cat named Wabi Sabi who decides that she must find out what her name means and goes about trying to learn its meaning. She finds animals who try to help but just can't explain it to her before she puts all of what she learned together. The artwork is done in a collage manner. This is another book that I just couldn't connect with as a reader. As a mentor text, it could be used to get students thinking about what their names mean.

[szierdt_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"Wabi Sabi is a way of seeing the world that is at the heart of Japanese culture. It finds beauty and harmony in what is simple, imperfect, natural , modest and mysterius. It can be a little dark, but it is also warm and comfortable. It may best be understoood as afeeling, rather than as an idea." Through this Japanese inspired story, Wabi Sabi the plain cat sets out to find the meaning fo her name. Illustrations utilize collage and fantastic graphic design. Lots of texture, balance and the book reads top to bottom creating a fun verticle exploration. Elements of proverbs and poetry explored as well, Japenese cultural representations throughout.

[lisabohman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a story about a cat named Wabi Sabi who questions the meaning of his name. Wabi Sabi leaves home to find the true meaning of his name, eventually realizing that “simple things are beautiful.” Haikus are interwoven throughout the story as well and their meanings are revealed at the end of the book. The illustrations in this book are creative and integrate natural and human-made materials to create collages. This book could be used to teach a lesson on collages and using creative materials to depict a scene or story. This book could also be used for a poetry lesson.

[bugsyboog · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In this beautiful and unique picture book, a cat named Wabi Sabi questions his name, asking his owner the meaning. Wabi Sabi is a traditional Japanese idea about finding beauty in simple, ordinary things. Wabi Sabi the cat asks others around him and is eventually directed to a wise monkey who leads the perplexed kitty to the realization. The much wiser cat eventually gets back home to his owner. Each page of this lovely book has a haiku to complement the ideas and lead the reader to appreciate the simple verses. This book opens up like a tablet (not left to right like an ordinary book), to further allow the reader to appreciate the Japanese reading style. The artwork by Ed Young depicts the animals and nature scenes simply, using multimedia. Each page has unique textures and colors, sometimes using photographs and painted canvas as the medium. It is hard to explain; one really has to see the art to understand the technique. At the end of the story, there are thorough explanations of wabi sabi and haiku, and each haiku from the story is repeated with the Japanese characters. This book is a gem, and it provides numerous learning opportunities and an appreciation of Japanese culture. This book could easily be used in the classroom to show kids haiku as a form of poetry, but also as a way to find beauty in ordinary things. As a classroom activity, kids could write their own haikus about ordinary everyday things in their lives. As far as the artwork, kids could experiment with their own multimedia artwork using things they find around their home. Perhaps they could create a piece of artwork around a given theme, like items all a certain color. I think the mixed media artwork in this book is really pretty fun and interesting, and I think kids would appreciate putting found objects together in new ways.

[janarose1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A cat named Wabi Sabi living in the city of Kyoto, overhears foreigners asking what her name means. Puzzled, she begins to ask all of the animals around her in an attempt to uncover its meaning. Eventually, Wabi Sabi travels to Mount Hiei to ask a wise monkey what her name means. The book alternates between normal text and haiku poems in order to add beauty and wabi sabi, to the story.

[nhritzuk · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The scrapbook style illustrations are amazing: I was mesmerized and couldn't help but turn back to look longer. The combination of haikus and text made this an interesting read. I also appreciated the Japanese cultural elements and the idea that a name should reflect the qualities of the person it belongs to.

[teacherlibrarian_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Reibstein, Mark. Wabi Sabi. (2008). New York: Little, Brown and Company. Wabi Sabi, a Japanese cat, wonders what the meaning of her name is. Her master, along with various animals in the house whom she asks, tell her it’s hard to explain, so they try to describe it in haiku, which describe feelings and nature. She doesn’t understand until she travels to the woods to ask Kosho, a wise old monkey. He, too, explains using haiku, and she finally understands that her name means, “Simple things are beautiful.” This is a lovely book that young and middle elementary students will enjoy. The dark and muted colors of the illustrations convey a soft, gentle mood. The illustrations are fairly realistic and paper-cut materials add dimension. The illustrations work together with the text and haiku to express the book’s theme, the Japanese concept of beauty in the ordinary and simple.

[mandochild · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Thanks to cat-sitting this weekend I am enjoying an absolute orgy of reading - cats bring out all my natural inclinations towards curling up with a book (preferably with a cat as a hot water bottle!). And this was the perfect book to read on such an occasion.Barbara very, very kindly bought Mum and I each a copy of this spectacular book which has only just made it onto the bookshop shelves. I would be extremely surprised if it isn't a huge success. The only thing that's strange about it is that it's shelved with the children's picture books. It may be a picture book but I think it takes an adult to truly appreciate it. The artwork is breathtakingly astonishing - I spend much of my time simply wanting to touch it - it has such a look of beautiful texture about it. It is truly like entering a new universe.The text is conceptually complex, mysterious and satisfying, combining "spare text" with haiku. Neither author nor illustrator is Japanese, but the setting and concept are Japanese, and Japanese haiku form part of the artwork. The whole work is a feast of beauty that can be read again and again and again, simply to appreciate the beauty of the poetry, the glory of the astonishing artwork and the satisfaction of the concept.What a gift.

[savannah5julian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A little cat from Kyoto, Japan, named Wabi Sabi hadn't put much thought into the meaning of her name until friends from a foreign land asked her owner what it meant. Her master's only reply was, "That's hard to explain." Displeased by her answer, Wabi Sabi goes on a journey to uncover the meaning of her name. Each animal she meets along the way gives her the same answer, "That's hard to explain" until she she finds a wise old monkey. Through haiku he shows her what her name means: a Japanese philosophy of seeing beauty in simplicity and the ordinary. An intriguing story, creative illustrations, and beautiful haikus make this enjoyable for the reader and the listener. A great introduction to Japanese culture.

[mcrotti_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wabi Sabi is a beautifully told and illustrated story of a Japanese cat searching for the meaning of her name. The concept of wabi sabi, as defined in the introduction to the book, involves finding beauty in simple, natural, imperfect things. Wabi Sabi the cat sets out on an adventure through the city and the woods, asking many animal friends along the way if they can explain her name to her. The creatures she meets use haiku to communicate the concept to her. The book includes an introduction defining wabi sabi, a short history lesson regarding the term, and a short paragraph explaining the art of haiku. It would be wonderful for libraries to have on hand, as it is very simply written. Young children can get a brief introduction to Japanese culture and poetry through this charming tale featuring cats, dogs, and monkeys among other creatures. An activity where slightly older children try their hand at haiku would be quite fun for a storytime program.

[lporsia_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The picture book winner of the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature (APAAL) for 2009, Wabi Sabi is an enchanting fictional story of a cat who searches for the meaning of his name. Written by Mark Reibstein and illustrated by Ed Young, the team takes the reader on a journey from the home, into the streets and wilderness of Japan to gain the full understanding of Wabi Sabi, which is a feeling or way of viewing the world that requires an experience rather than a definition. This exploration into Japanese culture leaves an inspiring feeling for the audience, to see the goodness in what they have and not take the little things for granted. By including traditional Japanese haikus and their explanations in English the author provides a look into Japanese culture while creating an interactive learning experience. Wabi Sabi is a good book for librarians to read for story time since the illustrations can be used to familiarize the audience with Japanese terrain while assisting in the interpretation of the experience of Wabi Sabi as a way of seeing the world. Additionally librarians and teachers alike could make use of the haikus for educational purposes while challenging children to create their own sayings.

[emgalford · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Reibstein, M. (2008). Wabi Sabi. New York: Little Brown.In this picture book, a cat named Wabi Sabi goes on a quest to learn the meaning of her name. After overhearing her master say that it is hard to explain the meaning of her name, the cat feels the need to find it out on her own. She goes on a journey from her house in Kyoto, to the mountains, and the city. Along the way she talks to many animals including monkeys, dogs, and birds. Eventually she finds the meaning of her name. It is a Japanese concept meaning "beauty and harmony in what is simple, imperfect, natural, modest and mysterious." This book is compelling to readers from different times and places. The meaning of Wabi Sabi is timeless Japanese concept that can be applied to everyday life. This book is a winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for literature.This book would be an excellent addition to an elementary school library. Throughout the book, the author uses Japanese poems called haikus. This book could be used in relation to a poetry unit in a classroom.

[nieva21 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a very reflective book about starting from where you are, as well as knowing yourself in the moment. It’s also about not knowing and how that’s okay. All of this Eastern wisdom is something valuable we can learn from. We learn about meditation and relaxing, as well. This quote 'How many, many things They bring to mind—Cherry blossoms!,' implies the limitless quality of life and wonderment. I really loved the origami-like quality of the art on the pages, as they popped off of the page. The art reminded me of a Japanese scroll.

[d9holliman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thought that this book was a great way to introduce children to foreign cultures, ideas, and practices. It shows them another form of beauty, as well as introducing them to Haiku poetry. Young’s illustrations are really beautiful. I love how he combines collages with more traditional looking Japanese art and writing.

[brennasheridan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wabi Sabi is one of the most beautiful and inspiring children’s picture books I have read. It tells the story of a cat named Wabi Sabi living in Kyoto, Japan searching for the meaning of its name. Through its adventures and friends it makes along the way, it finds the true meaning for itself… beauty in simplicity. This book not only contains a story, poems, and beautiful illustrations, but it also shows snapshots of unique art pieces representing different characters in the story. It is inspiring on multiple levels.

[ffox_16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A wonderfully illustrated and beautifully told story of the search for beauty/identity. I loved this book but do have some concerns that the changing writing styles may make this difficult for new readers to follow.

[allie_mansfield_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Even though I'm not a fan of cats, I thought this book was a great story for children. I like how the format and setup with the book was different. It read vertically, and not horizontally. The illustrations had a very asian theme.

[mahallett · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

very good illustrations. nothing story

[vpfluke · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a beautiful book. The bare story is that of a cat in Japan who sets out to find the meaning of his name, Wabi Sabi. We are brought into the beuatiful world of Japanese aethetics, where you have to sit with art to probe into its meaning or significance. The art work by Ed Young, composed of painterly looking collages, is striking. The story by Mark Reibstein is charming, and although intended for a juvenile audience can be absorbed equally by adults.