Cherry Blossom Festivals Books

My 8-year-old son has enjoyed this book series very much. The reading level is comfortably easy for him and he enjoys solving the mysteries. It keeps him reading and even teaches him some facts at the same time. I recommend this whole series.

This is an excellent book if you would like to get an overview and history of Washington DC's Cherry Blossom Festival. There's some really good historical photographs and drawings and it was enjoyable to read about the development, meaning, symbolism, etc. of the Cherry Blossom Festival. I would rate this book 4.5 stars only because while there are some great photos of the spectacular trees there aren't nearly as many as there should be. This is a great book if you are new to Washington and/or looking for a gift.

Lots of illustrations and facts about the role of the cherry blossom tree in diplomacy and landscapes. Info on the trees' cultivation, how the U.S. got the trees, places outside of Washington, DC to see them.

The author has worked at the Smithsonian and is a resident of D.C.

The book is very detailed and wonderfully illustrated. It starts with the traditions and roots of Cherry Blossom Festivals from Japan. Then it explians how the cherry blossom trees came to Washington and how the US picked up the traditions of the Cherry Blossom Festival. It ends with a chapter about how to care for cherry blossoms and how they exist, not only in cities of Japan and Washington, D.C., but also in other parts of the US, such as New York and Ohio, Missouri and California. Lovely book.
Funny enough, the book was printed in China.

With great drawings, this light text proceeds through the seasons of Japan explaining the holidays. References to food, culture and customs are made throughout. Great way to learn about Japanese celebrations.

The book that I ordered was SUPPOSED to have 48 PAGES. The book that I recieved in the mail ONLY has 16 PAGES. I have emailed the seller and I have not heard from them. They sold me a book that is NOT supposed to be sold, it says so on the in side the cover. I called Barns and Noble and they said that it is a copy for book stores to review before they buy many copies. I paid for a incomplete book!!!!! Very disappointed!

IF I had gotten the whole 48 page book, I believe that it would have been a really great book to teach students about the many different holidays that are celebrated in Japan. That is what I was going to use it for but since all of the pages were not there I could not use the book. I'm sure that if I had the full 48 page book I would have given it five stars and a better review.

A beautiful book. Betty Reynolds is an American who was a keen observer while living in Japan. Her illustrations are wonderful and she covers the whole year and includes a lot of Japanese words (with pronunciations and explanations). There is so much information packed into a very easy to read and beautiful format. I highly recommend any of Betty Reynolds' bookds to anyone who wants to understand Japanese culture or who is studying Japanese.

Using the long-running Cherry Blossom Festival as a vehicle, Christine Yano assembled nothing less than a socioethnic treatise of a rather closed and close-knit segment of Hawaii, Japanese Americans. Reading more like a thesis than a book for general distribution, Crowning the Nice Girl compels the reader to examine through the contestants in the beauty pagaent the evolution of AJA societal mores (here I go sounding like the author -- and not that there is anything wrong with that), from the requirement of having a Japanese surname, to allowing a token mixed-race contestant, to allowing one to win as long as she had a Japanese surname and didn't look non Japanese, and finally to hapa Catherine Toth's wonderful breakthrough crowning in 2004.