In Shadowland

by Mitsumasa Anno

Book Overview

Chaos descends on Shadowland when the watchman leaves his post to join a little match girl on a snowy street in the real world. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0531057410
• ISBN13: 9780531057414
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Orchard Books (NY)
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

A guard from the Shadowland helps a little match girl

"Everything has a shadow. A shadow has a shape and is black, but it has no substance, weight or thickness. Suppose there was a land of shadow...."In the imagination of Mitsumasa Anno, during the dark and sunless days of winter shadows go into a secret land of their own, where they frolic and play until the sunshine makes them go back and take their places in the world once again. But this would be a magical land where all the shadows in the world could come together and there be no problems of population or racial differences. Anno envisions a happy place, but allows that even in Shadowland there might be good and evil things."In Shadowland" tells the story of one winter night when the shadows are interrupted at their games as the Shadowland watchman sees a poor light match girl standing barefoot in the snow in a town of the real world. Deserting his post, the Shadowland watchman come to her rescue, lighting match after match to help keep the young girl warm. But the light of the matches bring forth shadows and then the two worlds, that of people and that of shadows, are in an uproar and the watchman and the little match girl must flee for their lives.While the story is captivating so are the contrasting styles of the artwork that Anno provides. The "real" world is done in Western-style watercolor and ink paintings, while the fanciful pictures of Shadowland are black-and-white pictures done in oriental papercut technique, where each one is cut from a single piece of paper. The contrast is striking and enhances the simple story of what happens when the shadows raised on a a cold winter's night do not try to run away to Shadowland and a scared shadow monkey turns bright red with fright.Mitsumasa Anno has produced many beautifully illustrated books in the field of children's literature. Born in Tsuawano in the western part of Japan, Anno has subordinated his meticulous training in the techniques of art to the spirit of creativity that distinguishes his works. As you may well suspect from the characters in this story, Anno was inspired for the story of "In Shadowland" by the work of Hans Christian Anderson" and in 1984 the writer-artist received the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest honor in the field of children's literature. After you read this enchanting book, you will understand why.