if you didn’t tell Sachiko KashiwabaThe middle grade novel of 1975 is Hayao Miyazaki‘ Spirited Awayyou won’t know. This is a less obvious connection than How do you live?Link to boy and heronwhich perhaps illustrates how interesting Miyazaki chooses to adapt to the text. His films based on Western novels (Marnie is there,,,, Ariti’s secret world,,,, howling castle) are closer to their sources than sources based on Japanese texts. Perhaps it was a matter of his intended audience to be familiar with the work. But whatever the motivation behind his adaptive choices, The village beyond the mist is a beautiful example of late twentieth century children’s fantasy, transporting readers into a strange yet familiar world.
The protagonist, Lina, is a sixth-grade student, and her journey to the Misty Valley is not her first solo journey. She had been visiting her grandmother for a while over the summer, but this year her father handed her a clown umbrella and told her she would be with his old acquaintance in a faraway town. Lina loves umbrellas, but she’s not so sure about this trip – especially because when she reaches the end of the train line, people in the town tell her they’ve never heard of the “Misty Valley.” Instead, they gave instructions to a rapidly declining town built around a dry silver mine, and they told her that if she got there and it was a ghost town, she could come back.
It’s a pretty classic set-up, and Kashwaba’s set-up is great. In fact, the town of Misty Valley does exist, but it’s accessible only by invitation – and that’s what the Clown Umbrella is. When Lina arrives at the village, she is struck by how picturesque yet incredible the people are, like an entire European village that has just emerged from the fog and forest. The person Ms. Picotto is sent to meet is believed to be a Yubaba figure, although she is far less terrifying. She’s strict, she demands everyone in town make money, especially Those who lived in her boarding house. To this end, the bewildered Lina spends every week of her vacation working in one of the town’s shops – a bookstore, a nautical supply store, a ceramics shop and a toy shop. At each store, she learns something new about herself and her place in the world.
While this could easily be a sermon about what good kids should do (even though this is a 1950s bag), it’s organic. In the bookstore, Lina learned to classify, organize and appreciate. At the sailing supply store, she learned about cleanliness and respect for others. At the china shop, she learned to help others. In the toy store, she learns to read between the lines to help people, all four skills that help her grow from a scared, mildly sullen girl to one who’s on page one, more comfortable in the world with people and in her own skin. Each experience builds on the last, and even Ms. Picotto’s cluttered nature becomes something Lina can understand, at least, bit by bit.
One of the book’s main strengths is the way Kashwaba describes the mysterious village. It’s not a journey, but it always has the qualities of many worlds. Although alive In a village that needs an invitation or a magical heritage, people can visit it as long as it has what they need. So a sailor looking for a lost lantern can find the village because that’s the ultimate place, while a drowning-stressed exam student can find it because it has a book that will save his sanity. However, they don’t climb mountains like Lina. They just see the necessary shops on their streets and can enter. It responds to story elements found in howling castle (written in 1986), firmly anchoring it in global children’s literature at the time.
The novel is a book of illustrations, in this case they are by miho satakethey also showed several volumes Kiki’s delivery service. They were also very much rooted in children’s literature of the time, eschewing an anime aesthetic to evoke the work of Jill Bennett danny world champion. This book is obviously aimed at a young middle grade audience, which would make it an excellent choice for budding fantasy readers, but it’s also a great book for adult audiences who can appreciate a well-crafted children’s story.
The village beyond the mist May not provide much insight Spirited Awaybut not required. This is a great book in its own right, a snapshot of 1970s children’s fiction, and a classic. This is the perfect read on a rainy day.
