Japan, the Culture. Rev. ed.

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is the
author of several books, including The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese
Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret Laurence: T

It takes courage and determination to introduce these giant, populous
nations in three short books each. Bobbie Kalman covers a surprising
amount of ground and provides her target middle-school readers with
surprisingly broad and intriguing portraits.

Topics on China include that country’s many kinds of homes, country
and city life, school days, clothing, leisure, and sports. Topics on
Japan include the family home, getting an education, getting married,
the working world, and leisure time. The style is crisp and full of
detail.

Color photography is at the heart of these texts. There are typically
two photos per page showing people engaged in various activities. Scenes
of country life in China, for example, include a rural Kazak woman using
a hand-operated sewing machine to make clothing, and villagers on either
side of a long, floating dock washing clothes by hand. Both text and
photos witness to substantial research. The well-chosen cover art is
particularly striking.

These Bobbie Kalman Books are well planned, well executed, and highly
recommended.