Lily Takes A Walk.
And just over a decade ago in 2010, Satoshi was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway medal with his picturebook Millie’s Marvellous Hat. The book is an extraordinary celebration of colour, creativity and imagination as Millie, who cannot afford any of the hats on offer in a shop, is given one that can be any shape, size or colour that its wearer wishes. There is a sense of absurdist humour in surreal images of Millie, the lead character with a peacock that fans out its tail elaborately, shown in a lavish double page spread, with a cake hat outside a cake shop, flowers outside a florist, a fountain hat in the park. It’s a book full of warmth and whimsy but there are serious comments around feelings, freedom of expression and individuality. There’s an uplifting spread where every character wears hats that showcase their desires and wishes.
Shopping for smiles
Satoshi has again been nominated for the Kate Greenaway this year with The Smile Shop, a story which Satoshi recognised
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after completing it shares some parallels with Millie’s tale. The idea for the book came from Satoshi’s interest in learning Spanish. A Spanish word for smile is ‘sonrisa’ and Satoshi created a word ‘sonrisaria’ for a shop that might sell smiles. He made rough pencil sketches alongside a simple Spanish story. He showed an English translation to Sarah Pakenham at Scallywag Press who was so impressed she made an offer to publish it in the UK. After finishing the story, Satoshi noted that, as with Millie’s
Marvellous Hat, the main character gets something nice despite not having the money to buy from the shop. The book captures the hustle and bustle of a busy thronging town centre and the rich variety of items on sale and there’s a heart-warming awareness of just how infectious smiles can be!
Satoshi’s first book with Scallywag Press was Hat Tricks, a brilliant piece of minimalist visual storytelling that sees a rabbit, Hattie, pulling ever bigger and more unlikely creatures from a magician’s hat! It is riotous fun and perfect for sharing – so much so that it was shortlisted for the inaugural BookTrust Storytime Prize, as well as being nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal.
On a visit to the UK in October 2018 to work with the Children’s Bookshow, Satoshi had made a Kamishibai theatre version of Hat Tricks. The term Kamishibai means paper play or theatre and there’s a long tradition of street theatre involving storytelling with pictures. This Kamishibai version was then performed in front of an impromptu
Spring-Summer 2021
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