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  • Published: 16 February 2022
  • ISBN: 9780593181959
  • Imprint: RHUS Children's Books
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 40
  • RRP: $35.00

The Big Bath House




A joyful celebration of Japanese cultural traditions and body positivity as a young girl visits a bath house with her grandmother and aunties.

A joyful celebration of Japanese cultural traditions and body positivity as a young girl visits a bath house with her grandmother and aunties

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY New York Public LibraryNPRPublishers WeeklyHorn BookThe American Library Association • ALA Rise: A Feminist Book Project • A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST PICTURE BOOK OF THE CENTURY

You'll walk down the street / Your aunties sounding like clip-clopping horses / geta-geta-geta / in their wooden sandals / Until you arrive... / At the bath house / The big bath house.

In this celebration of Japanese culture and family and naked bodies of all shapes and sizes, join a little girl--along with her aunties and grandmother--at a traditional bath house. Once there, the rituals leading up to the baths begin: hair washing, back scrubbing, and, finally, the wood barrel drumroll. Until, at last, it's time, and they ease their bodies--their creased bodies, newly sprouting bodies, saggy, jiggly bodies--into the bath. Ahhhhhh!

With a lyrical text and gorgeous illustrations, this picture book is based on Kyo Maclear's loving memories of childhood visits to Japan, and is an ode to the ties that bind generations of women together.

  • Published: 16 February 2022
  • ISBN: 9780593181959
  • Imprint: RHUS Children's Books
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 40
  • RRP: $35.00

About the author

Kyo Maclear

Kyo Maclear is a self-professed spork – her father is British and her mother is Japanese. She was born in England, but moved to Canada at a young age. Kyo lives in Toronto with her two sons, two cats, a musican and a truckload of books.

Also by Kyo Maclear

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Praise for The Big Bath House

Praise for IT BEGAN WITH A PAGE:

"In spare lyrical text, Kyo Maclear tells the story of Japanese-American children's author and illustrator Gyo Fujikawa..." --New York Times Book Review

"It Began with a Page... tells [Gyo Fujikawa's] story beautifully, in picture-book form." --The New Yorker

Praise for IT BEGAN WITH A PAGE:

"In spare lyrical text, Kyo Maclear tells the story of Japanese-American children's author and illustrator Gyo Fujikawa..." --New York Times Book Review

"It Began with a Page... tells [Gyo Fujikawa's] story beautifully, in picture-book form." --The New Yorker

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