Step Into Ancient Japan

by Fiona MacDonald

Book Overview

Step back to the time of shoguns and samurai, with 15 step-by-step projects and over 330 exciting pictures

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1844776913
• ISBN13: 9781844776917
• Release Date: October 2020
• Publisher: Southwater Publishing
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Age Range: 17 years and under
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 12

Customer Reviews

EXCELLENT....look for "Sword and Samurai"

This book is part of an excellent series of non-fiction books for children on cultures from the past. While the title of this edition states "ancient", the focus seems to be on the period of the bushido and samurai (it does briefly cover the Jomon period). Fiona Macdonald did a great job, as usual. There is an abundance of beautiful, full-color pictures (mostly photographs, but a few illustrations) of famous art, buildings, and maps on every page. Each two page spread covers a specific topic and is organized with a paragraph or so of text surrounded by the photographs with interesting facts or expanations. It does not appear too cluttered and again, these pictures are almost entirely real examples of the culture, not just illustrations. A descriptive timeline with is also included on the preliminary pages. The glossary and index are useful too. Fifteen do-able activities/crafts/recipes are found throughout the book: samurai helmet, shell game, rice balls, carp streamer, screen painting, homemade paper, Noh mask, votive dolls, ikebana flower arrangement, fan, fox netsuke, origami box, calligraphy, kite, and clay tea bowl. NOW FOR THE IMPORTANT PART...this is out of print, but apparently the publisher joined this title by Fiona Macdonald with Step into the Chinese Empire Chinese Empire (Step Into Series) by Philip Steele to forge a 128 page book called SWORDS AND SAMURAI. I've ordered it Swords and Samurai: The Ancient Warrior Culture of the East and hopefully my information is accurate! I also highly recommend Exploration into Japan (Exploration Into) for a more in-depth, yet still interesting history of Japan for kids. If you're looking for more crafts and some info, try Japan (Make it Work! History). Also, The Japanese (Ancient World) has some good information about the culture of Japan as well.

Beautiful book- Great ideas for kids w/Japanese crafts & art

This book is an amazing resource book for a teaching unit onJapan. It is written with consultants from the Japanese Festival Society. They have arts and crafts ideas that are easily made by children.