"Once upon a time in a land far, far away, there lived a king and queen. The king and queen had no children of their own, but they had a beautiful garden full of all kinds of flowers."
A white bird comes into the king's dream and tells him they will find a child in their garden but she is under spell and if the spell is not broken "your kingdom will fall to ruins and be lost forever."
The king and queen do find a tiny baby in their garden. She is almost as small as a dew drop but each day she grows bigger and bigger until she is as tall as the tallest tower beside the castle. Everyone is in despair but the king notices something strange.
"There in the tower window! It was the princess's belly button and something was hidden inside it ... something shiny." It is a seed!
This is a book which uses a fairy tale story form with very appealing illustrations designed around geometric shapes. Perhaps it is also a fable that explains the origin of huge sunflowers and why they are so tall. This book was originally published in Japan in 2013 and then Walker books published the English version in 2014.
I would love to pair this book with a very old book that I once had in a school library. It is a book I search for at every used book sale - The Story of Imelda who was Small by Morris Lurie illustrated by Terry Denton.
Taro Miura is a Japanese-born author and illustrator of many books for children, including The Tiny King and The Big Princess. He graduated from Osaka University of the Arts, and his work has featured in both domestic exhibitions and international book fairs. He was awarded the Sankei Children's Book Art Award in 2011 for his picture book Chiisa na osama (The Tiny King). He lives and works in Tokyo.
Once upon a time there was a tiny king who lived in a big castle guarded by lots of big soldiers. Every day the Tiny King eats an enormous feast at his big dining table (he can never finish it all), he rides on his big horse (he is so tiny that he's thrown off every time), bathes in his big bath (not much fun), and sleeps, not very well, in his big bed all alone. Everything is just too big, and the Tiny King is sad and lonely. Until one day he meets a big princess and asks her to be his queen. Not long after, they are blessed with children - lots of children! Now everything is just the right size. The enormous meals are always gobbled up, his horse is just the right size for family outings, bath time is a real riot, and the Tiny King sleeps soundly at last. Here is a review in Seven Impossible things.
Taro Miura has a very distinct art style that really appeals to me though sadly many of his books are now out of print. I do like the look of his board books. I wish more of them were available in English. Here are two I found along with some in Japanese.
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