I first read Totto Chan by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, years ago when I was a kid, after reading an excerpt from a textbook and liked it. I am not in a habit of re reading books, but had this strong urge to re-read this one a few days ago and luckily found it without much trouble and read it.
For a first grader it is difficult to be expelled from school. But somehow Totto chan manages to do this in a few days by unknowingly disrupting the whole class time and time again. This is how after a lot of thought her mother enrols her into Tomoe Gakuen. Tomoe Gakuen is different. It is a school in railway carriages with only about fifty students and a principal who understands his students completely. Unlike other schools, where the periods are predetermined, in this new school, children are allowed to start off with their favourite subject, any time they want, as long as they complete the assigned tasks of the day. Totto chan is a memoir written by the author, about her days in the school, who believes that the uniqueness of the school ,made her the way she is as an adult. Inspite of the raging war in those days, the students of the school were not affected by it, until much later.
Totto chan is like Alice, who fell into wonderland, which just happened to be a school, and who had her own types of adventures. Her childish endeavours and innocence is beyond cute. It is a different experience, to read about a child, who though living during the war time, wasn’t as affected by it unlike the ones about the gory war crimes that people suffered. Tomoe Gakuen is a school which I bet every child would want to go to. Mr. Kobayashi’s style of dealing with the kids is great. Personally, I can’t wait till my cousins are old enough to read this, because this is absolutely the first book, that I am going to make them read. For anyone who already hasn’t read, do not hesitate to pick this book. It is worth every minute that you will spend reading it.
just say books 