Yugen
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Told in haiku-based American Sentences and pictures, Yugen is the story of a boy and his mother, inspired by the profound concept of "yugen," a Japanese word for the mystery and beauty of the universe and of human experience. The second collaboration between Caldecott-winning illustrator Ed Young and Mark Reibstein after their award-winning 2008 debut, Wabi Sabi, Yugen is a book of longing and remembrance that is unequaled in its beauty and poetic simplicity.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Yugen," as the child narrator of this haunting story is called by his mother, is a Japanese term that means "subtle and profound." In their second collaboration, Young and Reibstein (Wabi Sabi) embody that concept through haiku and quiet images that reflect on presence and absence: "I'm Eugene / Yugen' to my mom,/ who held me tight/ when the wind/ blew cold." When the child's mother is away in Japan (where "everyone stops work/ to watch/ cherry petals fall"), she and Eugene look at the same star so that, "seeing it together,/ we'd be close,/ though far." Young accompanies the solitary verses with shadowy charcoal depictions of mother, child, and a cat companion set against scratchy, weathered yellow backgrounds. The collaborators offer a stirring and graceful expression of love, loss, and quiet longing. Ages 5 9.
