Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window (1981)
by
Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Chihiro Iwasaki (Illustrator)
Dorothy Britton (Translator)
窓ぎわのトットちゃん
ISBN :
4770020678 (ISBN13: 9784770020673)
Edition Language :
English
Characters :
Setting :
near Jiyugaoka Station, Tokyo (Japan)
This engaging series of childhood recollections tells about an ideal school in Tokyo during World War II that combined learning with fun, freedom, and love. This unusual school had old railroad cars for classrooms, and it was run by an extraordinary man--its founder and headmaster, Sosaku Kobayashi--who was a firm believer in freedom of expression and activity.
Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window was written by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, a Japanese actress, who wrote this memoir based on her childhood experience at Tomoe Gakuen primary school, before World War II.
Totto-Chan, who was labeled as a troublemaker by her teacher, was forced to leave school. Her anxious mother then took her to Tomoe Gakuen, a school ran by headmaster Mr. Kobayashi, who had utterly different views on schooling than the other educators of his time. He was an educator who believed respect, encouragement, and freedom are keys to a child's better development than punishment and boxing the child according to adults' own liking.
Totto-Chan, who was labeled as a troublemaker by her teacher, was forced to leave school. Her anxious mother then took her to Tomoe Gakuen, a school ran by headmaster Mr. Kobayashi, who had utterly different views on schooling than the other educators of his time. He was an educator who believed respect, encouragement, and freedom are keys to a child's better development than punishment and boxing the child according to adults' own liking.
Review Chapter 1-2
1.) Train station
The story starts with the setting at the train station there are a mother and little girl walking together who just got off the train. After they got off the train, they were asked for a ticket by the station officer. The child named Totto-chan is told as a very active and fussy person. But here, remains her uniqueness. As a person who wants to know a lot and really ambitious.
Unfortunately, with Totto-chan's attitude, it made her mother very worried about her. Her mother was afraid something would happen to Totto-chan. After all, Totto-chan is only a small child who just entered elementary school. So, it was natural for her to be curious about anything.
2.) Little Girl at the Window
It turned out that Totto-chan's mother's worries really happened and her were feeling was occurred. Thus, on the first day, Totto-chan entered school, she had made a lot of noise in class. So, in Japan, their school desks have drawers to store things. With extraordinary curiosity. Totto-chan always opened the drawer lid and making the class so noisy.
The teacher also asked Mother of Totto-chan to move her to school which was more suitable for her curiosity that was so comprehensive. However, here in the story, Totto-chan isn't told that she has a mental disorder or anything, she's just a hyperactive child.
Therefore, it is not good if she is sent to an ordinary formal school. And here, Totto-chan was dropped out from her school on the first-day school.
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