Mai and the Missing Melon
by Sonoko Sakai; illus. by Keiko Brodeur
Primary    Bala Kids    32 pp.
10/23    9781645471240    $18.95
e-book ed.  9780834845329    $10.99

When eight-year-old Mai gets off the train to visit her grandmother, her obāchama, she accidentally leaves behind the delicious-smelling muskmelon she was so excited to share. Sakai’s story, set in 1960s Japan, will pull readers in with its colorful and detailed illustrations of lovingly described scenes. When Mai realizes she’s forgotten the melon, Obāchama knows just what to do. They race back to the train station and search through the various objects at the lost and found: “glasses, wallets full of money, dentures, comic books, a ukulele, hats, and umbrellas…live pet crickets and large beetles in cages and a beautiful goldfish with a lacy white tail in a bowl.” The melon isn’t there, but the station official says he won’t leave until he finds it. Back at Obāchama’s, Mai begs her to retell a favorite story about six local buddha statues that come to life one snowy night to return a kindness bestowed on them. Moments later, Mai’s own kindness in choosing to bring the melon to her grandmother comes back around to her when they get a phone call: someone has turned in the missing fruit! Readers will be drawn into this heartwarming tale as surely as Mai is lured that morning by the melon’s sweet aroma, depicted by illustrator Brodeur as a flowery trail that curls through the air beckoning the sleepy girl from her futon to the dining table.

From the November/December 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.