Tree of Cranes

Bibliography

Say, Allen. 1991. TREE OF CRANES. Ill by Allen Say. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 039552024X

Summary

When a young Japanese boy comes in from playing in the neighbor’s pond, he is sent to take a bath and then to bed because he has a cold. The boy observers his mother folding many origami paper cranes and later digging up a little pine tree from the yard. His mother explains that when she was a young girl, she lived in California and celebrated Christmas. Together, they placed the paper cranes and candles on the tree and wished for peace and quiet. The little boy promised he would never go to the pond again, and the next morning, the young boy woke up to a present under the tree.

Critical Analysis

In Say’s picture book, Tree of Cranes, Say shares a story of how a mother introduces her Japanese son to Christmas for the first time. The family lives in Japan, but when the mother was a small child, she lived in California. To introduce her son to this celebration, she uses origami paper to make many paper cranes.

Cultural markers found in this story include a description of the neighbor’s pond filled with bright colored carp. Say also used origami paper to make cranes. When the son asked why his mother was making cranes, she said she was going “to make a big wish.” The boy replied, “You’re going to fold a thousand cranes to make your wish come true?” Japanese legend promises that if you fold a thousand cranes then you would be granted a wish by a crane. When the boy was sent to bed, his mother made him rice gruel and served it with a sour plum, yellow radishes, and hot tea. Also, when his mother explains that presents are found under the tree, the young boy asks for a samurai kite. The next morning, the boy finds the kite under his tree.

Say’s illustrations are simple yet strong. The young boy has short black hair and fair skin. His mother is also has fair skin and wears her hair pulled back in a more traditional ponytail. While the mother wears traditional attire, the son wears shorts, a jacket, and scarf. The house has sliding doors and a tiled roof. There are few decorations in the house. One illustration shows the young boy sitting on his bed eating his rice gruel. The kite is a fierce warrior painted in bright red, black, and white.

Reviews

Publishers Weekly review: “Heedless of Mama's warnings, a Japanese boy cannot resist playing at an ice-cold pond "filled with carp of bright colors." When he comes home, he is immediately treated for a cold, with a hot bath and rice gruel. His mother's attitude chills him more than the weather, though; he cannot understand why she seems to be ignoring him. Hearing a noise in the garden, the boy spies Mama digging up the pine tree that was planted when he was born. She brings it inside and decorates it with paper cranes and candles. It is a Christmas tree, the first for the boy, and the first in many years for his mother, who tells her son she comes from "a warm place called Ca-li-for-ni-a." The story is a poignant one, illuminated with finely drawn illustrations reflecting the serenity of a Japanese home and the quiet love between mother and son.”

Kirkus review: “When the young Japanese narrator comes home with a cold after playing in a forbidden pond, his mother ``barely looks at him'' and puts him into a hot bath and then to bed without so much as a story. She's busy folding silver paper cranes; later, she brings in the little pine planted when the boy was born and decorates it with candles and the cranes, explaining for the first time how she celebrated Christmas in California, where she grew up. The boy is allowed to light the candles, and next day he receives a gift--a kite he especially wanted--for his first Christmas. Say's exquisitely designed illustrations are as elegant as those for The Boy of the Three-Year Nap (1988, Caldecott Honor). Geometric forms in the austere Japanese architecture provide a serene background for softer lines defining the appealing little boy and his pensive mother. As in Say's other books, there is an uncompromising chill here from parent to child: it's true that the boy has disobeyed, that his mother warms and feeds him, and that in the end they share the tree's beauty; still, her longing for ``peace and quiet'' seems exclusionary, and her cold uncommunicativeness while preparing the lovely tree is at odds with its message. Beautiful, honest, but disturbing. “

Connections

Other books written by Allen Say include:

Say, Allen. 1993. GRANDFATHER’S JOURNEY. ISBN 0395570352

Say, Allen. 1999. TEA WITH MILK. ISBN 0395904951

Say, Allen. 1990. EL CHINO. ISBN 0395520231