Barbara Brenner and Julie Takeya, illustrated by June Otani,
Chibi: A True Story from Japan.
Clarion Books, 1996

Chibi is a winning true story about a duckling and her family who captured the imagination of the Japanese public – and of my four-and-a-half-year-old son. He sat in rapt attention the night I read him the book, and retold the highlights to his mother a few minutes later, obviously relishing the drama of the book, which bears only a passing resemblance to Robert McCloskey’s classic Make Way for Ducklings.

One spring in the mid-1980s, a lone Spotbill Duck became a frequent visitor to a fountain outside the Mitsui Office Park in the center of downtown Tokyo. Feeling right at home, she built a nest in nearby ivy bushes and hatched 10 ducklings. When Oka-san (mother) began to walk around with her sizable brood, word spread quickly among office workers at the building, and then the media, which made the story a national sensation. More than 4,000 people a day visited the office park. Office workers ate their lunch by the fountain to view the duck family. School children came on class trips. Food vendors sold snacks and drinks. A small army of photographers, reporters, and television camera crews recorded every development. One TV station even ran a "Duck Watch" each night on the evening news. The youngest and smallest of the ducklings was named Chibi, (literally "tiny"), and she quickly became the crowd favorite. People fretted that she was always a little behind the pack: the last to learn how to swim or dive. When Oka-san seemed about to lead her ducklings across a busy eight-lane road to the moat around the Imperial Palace, a media vigil ensued to record the perilous moment, and Tokyo Police went on alert to stop traffic. TV crews camped overnight at the park. Oka-san finally made her move, taking an unexpected route to the road, and Sato-san, and alert (and doting) daily newspaper photographer ran out into the road to stop oncoming cars as the ducks waddled obliviously to their new home in the wider waters of the moat. The drama continued after typhoon winds and rains swept through the city, and afterwards, a number of the ducklings were missing, including Chibi. All ended well when Sato-san spotted the little one drifting on the water, balanced on a Styrofoam container like a shipwrecked sailor. The nation heaved a sigh of relief, and the emperor ordered a duck house built in the moat.

Barbara Brenner and Julie Takeya tell the story straightforwardly, but with ample suspense, and June Otani’s illustrations are memorable, capturing the spirit of this delightful tale, which reminded me of the tender and sentimental side of the Japanese people.

David Takami