The Bicycle Man (Sandpiper) (utgåvan 1989)

In this text the author/illustrator use detailed pictures in order to help explain the text. The book discusses a sportsmanship day that a school is having in Japan. The young boys in the story participate in several different games. The author describes the events well, but the detailed drawings of the book really help to let the reader see what these events look like and entail. ( )

The amazing tricks two American soldiers perform on a borrowed bicycle are a fitting finale for the school sports day festivities in a small village in occupied Japan.

Compare Japanese children's "Sportsday" to our kids' "field day." ( )

Very enjoyable! Great lead into history lessons. Students will probably find the tale very engaging.

This book was very interesting and a great window of another culture looking into another culture. The language of this story is very clear and descriptive."he looked like a small boy greeting a giant", descriptive language like this allows an immediate picture to form in your head. This book outlined how a culture could look into another and their perspective. "The principle walked up to the American and bowed." quotes like this show cultual diversity and communication by body language. The main moral of the story was "to never judge a book by the cover". As the Americans walked up to the school, students were scared, " I felt afraid" the main character said. Later the children realized that these men were great people and were glad to meet them.