Otubel and Elephant

Landowner Otuber and a white elephant that appears at his workplace. Otuber coaxes the elephant and makes him work. At first, the white elephant enjoys his work, but gradually becomes exhausted. One night, I whisper, ``It hurts, Santa Maria.''
The white elephant is hurt by human greed, and his fellow elephants rush in to help him...

The powerful touch and use of colors make the elephant's emotions overflow from the screen. The scene in which the elephants rush in at the climax is a masterpiece.

[Profile]
Illustration: Ryoji Arai
Born in Yamagata Prefecture in 1956. Graduated from Nihon University College of Art, Department of Art.
Debuted as a picture book in 1991 with ``Yukkuri and Jojoni'' (Holp Publishing).
He won the Japan Picture Book Award for ``Le Fran Le Fran'' (Petit Gras Publishing), the Sankei Children's Publishing Culture Award Grand Prize for ``It's Morning, So I'll Open the Window'' (Kaiseisha), the Japan Picture Book Award Grand Prize for ``Today Is Married in the Sky,'' and many other awards, including the Bologna Children's Book Exhibition Special Award, the Shogakukan Children's Publishing Culture Award, and the Kodansha Publishing Culture Prize Picture Book Award. In 2005, she became the first Japanese person to receive the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Prize for Literature.
His major picture books include ``On the Bus,'' ``Susu and Nenel,'' ``Happy-san'' (Kaiseisha), ``Kyotohi'' (BL Publishing), ``Hajimari Hajimari'' (Bronze Shinsha), ``Sonomori'', ``Picture Book Children'' (Kodansha), and ``Uchuutamago'' (East Press). In 2006, he won the Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence Award in the Animation Division for ``Porta of Sukima no Kuni''. He is active in many fields, including releasing the music CD ``From Where to Where, When and How''.

●Art materials used: oil pastels, colored pencils, pencils/paper: watercolor paper (Arche)

[Publication date] October 17, 2007