On the first day of summer, 8-year-old Mai wakes to the sweet smell of a muskmelon. It is an expensive gift from a neighbor. So begins Sonoko Sakai’s Mai and the Missing Melon (2023).
Mai wants to visit her 75-year-old grandmother, Obāchama, to share the melon. Her mother helps her pack the melon in a furoshiki cloth, and she sends her off. Her daughter is old enough to take the train herself.
Mai observes the people on the train. She enjoys the landscape through the train windows. She takes a nap.
Soon enough, she is at her proper stop and steps off to walk to her grandmother’s house. She passes the statues of six stone buddhas. And then, she discovers she’d left the melon in the overhead bin on the train, where a kind passenger had helped her place it.
What follows is an adventure between grandmother and granddaughter to find the missing melon.
During the search, her grandmother tells a story about a hatmaker who comes across six stone buddhas. His act of kindness towards the deities is rewarded.
Keiko Brodeur’s illustrations are delightfully rendered, with warmth and feeling. So much of personality comes through in her drawings, such as one of a train station official. There are glorious images of a lost-and-found at the train station, a beautifully patterned melon, an elegant and warm-hearted Mai, and other delightful moments. The closeness between Mai and her grandmother is touching.
Mai and the Missing Melon is an unforgettable children’s book full of charm, wisdom, and whimsy. It is based on a childhood experience of the author, Sonoko Sakai.
Shalin Hai-Jew has worked in higher education for many years. She has edited dozens of nonfiction educational books and authored a dozen with a number of publishers.
