Jasmine Toguchi Mochi Queen is the story of an eight-year-old girl who wishes she was older for the fast approaching Japanese New Year’s celebration. If she was only ten! Then she could help the women make the mochi and not have to babysit the younger cousins. Remember wishing to be older in order to be able to participate in different activities such as going to school, taking piano lessons, and learning to read? Those are all things Sophie, Jasmine’s older sister, is able to do. And this year Sophie gets to make Mochi as she is ten, and Jasmine is only eight. But Jasmine has a plan! It involves getting some muscles quick and not competing with her older sister at all. The author of this book is Debbi Michiko Florence, and the illustrator is Elizabet Vukovic.
Free Instant Download: Jasmine-Toguchi-Mochi-Queen-Book-Companion-Work-Pages
Jasmine gets out of having to help clean and sweep when Sophie accuses her of hitting, and since she can’t get along, she is sent to her room. All according to plan! She doesn’t have to keep cleaning and since she hates cleaning, this is a happy kind of punishment. The usual kinds of sibling rivalry and even a difficult cousin are woven through the story making it relatable to children everywhere. The Japanese New Year traditions are mentioned as part of the story and will add to your child’s or students’ cultural understanding. Especially if you have Japanese students, this book would certainly be a welcome addition to the class or school library. Our librarian used to order books we wanted for the library, and this would be a good one to request. There are additional Jasmine Toguchi books as this is a series.
I received a free copy of the paperback for the 2018 Multicultural Children’s Book Day event. This event happens near the end of January each year, and I have participated by making other free book companions in prior years. This title is a Junior Library Guild Fall 2017 Selection, An Amazon’s Best Children’s Books of 2017, An Evanston Public Library’s 101 Great Books for Kids List 2017, and also a Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best Books 2017.
- Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (BYR) (July 11, 2017)
We had to try Mochi which we didn’t pound with hammers or make by hand. One of the local grocery stores has this item available, so we took the easy way out. What a lovely dessert and tasting it while thinking of all the work that it probably required to make it makes it even sweeter. Using plates decorated with flowers helps make the experience even more fun. Who would imagine the hammer Jasmine uses is actually so huge? This picture below helps put the hammer’s size into perspective. When I read the book I had no idea how large it was, so I would show this picture to children as a prereading anticipatory set to help them appreciate Jasmine’s desire to be strong enough to lift such a thing.
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/18) is in its 5th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Their mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators. This is one of several posts I am writing for this year’s event.
Current Sponsors: MCBD 2018 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board.
2018 MCBD Medallion Sponsors
HONORARY: Children’s Book Council, Junior Library Guild
PLATINUM: Scholastic Book Clubs
GOLD: Audrey Press, Candlewick Press, Loving Lion Books, Second Story Press, Star Bright Books, Worldwide Buddies
SILVER: 
Capstone Publishing, Author Charlotte Riggle, Child’s Play USA, KidLit TV, Pack-n-Go Girls, Plum Street Press
BRONZE: Barefoot Books, Carole P. Roman, Charlesbridge Publishing, Dr. Crystal Bowe, Gokul! World, Green Kids Club, Gwen Jackson, Jacqueline Woodson, Juan J. Guerra, Language Lizard, Lee & Low Books, RhymeTime Storybooks, Sanya Whittaker Gragg, TimTimTom Books, WaterBrook & Multnomah, Wisdom Tales Press
2018 Author Sponsors
Honorary Author Sponsors: Author/Illustrator Aram Kim and Author/Illustrator Juana Medina
Author Janet Balletta, Author Susan Bernardo, Author Carmen Bernier-Grand, Author Tasheba Berry-McLaren and Space2Launch, Bollywood Groove Books, Author Anne Broyles, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Eugenia Chu, Author Lesa Cline-Ransome, Author Medeia Cohan and Shade 7 Publishing, Desi Babies, Author Dani Dixon and Tumble Creek Press, Author Judy Dodge Cummings, Author D.G. Driver, Author Nicole Fenner and Sister Girl Publishing, Debbi Michiko Florence, Author Josh Funk, Author Maria Gianferrari, Author Daphnie Glenn, Globe Smart Kids, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Author Quentin Holmes, Author Esther Iverem, Jennifer Joseph: Alphabet Oddities, Author Kizzie Jones, Author Faith L Justice , Author P.J. LaRue and MysticPrincesses.com, Author Karen Leggett Abouraya, Author Sylvia Liu, Author Sherri Maret, Author Melissa Martin Ph.D., Author Lesli Mitchell, Pinky Mukhi and We Are One, Author Miranda Paul, Author Carlotta Penn, Real Dads Read, Greg Ransom, Author Sandra L. Richards, RealMVPKids Author Andrea Scott, Alva Sachs and Three Wishes Publishing, Shelly Bean the Sports Queen, Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Gayle H. Swift Author Elsa Takaoka, Author Christine Taylor-Butler, Nicholette Thomas and MFL Publishing Author Andrea Y. Wang, Author Jane Whittingham Author Natasha Yim
You might also like the following posts and free printable PDFs.
Free Classroom Japan Bingo Game PDF
Cherry blossom book and craft ideas
Free pocket chart cards for Suki’s Kimono
Presentation slides about Japan for either SMART Board or Power Point
*Note: The link up will be available on January 27, the official Multicultural Children’s Book Day annual date. A Different Pond book review and freebie will be available soon on this blog.
Thank you for reading, Carolyn
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