Nezumi-kun no Chokki is a nonsensical picture book written by Nakae Yoshio (1940- ) and illustrated by Ueno Noriko (1940- ).
Nezumi-kun (a tiny mouse) has a nice little red vest knitted by his
mother. A duck comes by and asks Nezumi-kun to let him try it on. “A bit
tight, but doesn’t it suit me?” the duck asks. Then a monkey finds the
duck and tries the vest on. In this way, the vest is relayed to a fur seal,
a lion, a horse, and finally a big elephant. The red vest is stretched
to the limit when Nezumi-kun finds it and is greatly surprised at the sight.
He walks away wearily dragging the stretched vest. However, in the next
scene he hangs the stretched vest on elephant’s trunk to make a swing
and enjoys sitting in it.
The repetition of a simple pattern with an unexpected turn is often
favored by children. Feelings for precious things and Nezumi-kun’s lenience
toward others appeals not only to children but also to adults. The book
received the Seventeenth Award for Promotion of Cultural Material of Child
Welfare and the Sixth Kodansha Cultural Prize for Children’s Picture Book
Publication in 1975. It has been handed down for generations.
Animals are drawn in black inside a green frame to emphasize the red
color of the vest. Ueno joined with Nakae and produced the book which was
made into a series. Most of the books in this series have a similar relaying
pattern. Through Nezumi-kun’s picture books, Ueno and Nakae introduced
a new method of creating picture books, emphasizing visual expression.
Ueno’s debut as a picture book artist was a surprise in the 1970s
when picture books were mainly written first by a writer and then illustrated
by an artist. In 1973 Ueno published a picture book without words titled
Elephant Buttons in the U.S., which was then published in Japan two years later. Elephant Buttons is also a nonsensical picture book. Drawn in black, an animal resembling a stuffed toy undoes the buttons on its belly and another animal comes out. This pattern is repeated and readers can enjoy what comes next. In this respect it is the starting point of Nezumi-kun no Chokki.
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