A visit to the library this past week (on Fathers Day actually) brought us across this great children book, Wabi Sabi. It is about a simple and ordinary (but beautiful) kitty named Wabi Sabi. Wabi Sabi discovers that his name has a meaning and searches for that meaning. On his journey he realizes the essence of Wabi Sabi through dialogue with other animals, but mostly from the sights, sounds, and feelings he encounters.

Wabi Sabi is a Japanese worldview based on impermanence, incompleteness, and imperfection. It finds beauty in the simple ordinary feelings. It is modest, humble, simple, intimate, and associated with darkness.

The illustrations in the book are a perfect example of Wabi Sabi- they are done in a collage, but with lots of rough and ripped edges. There is so much depth and texture even though you are looking at a printed image. The format of the book opens vertically like a wall calendar rather than horizontally. Throughout the story are short haiku’s (Japanese poems translated in English as 5 syllables, 7 syllables, and 5 syllables per line). The illustrations themselves hide more haiku’s in Chinese characters that are translated in the back of the book.

Overall I just really loved the message of the book- appreciating the simplicities and natural processes of life as beauty. I thought it might be beyond Mikah’s comprehension level, but he seemed to enjoy the book as well. He was quiet the entire time I read, and the page-filled textured illustrations definitely captured his attention. This is a book we will revisit again and again as he grows older…