Book Review: Sun and Shiro and the Polka-Dot Snake

Book Review: Sun and Shiro and the Polka-Dot Snake

Meet Sun and his dog Shiro in the new book Sun and Shiro and the Polka-Dot Snake, published by Gestalten. Sun is a creative boy who loves being outdoors – growing things in his family’s garden, exploring nature with his dog Shiro and flying the kites that he’s made himself. Whenever Shiro gets lost when they’re out and about, Sun can easily find her by looking out for the white tip of her brown tail. Shiro means “white” in Japanese, hence the dog’s name.

When autumn comes every year, the duo heads out on leaf hunts in the woods, collecting them in lots of different colours. Autumn is also apple season and Sun and Shiro also love collecting delicious apples from the nearby orchard.

This time, they meet someone who loves apples even more than they do – Polka-Dot-Snake. This creature is friendly but hungry and is keen to eat lots of apple cores (the only parts of the apples that he wants) and does so a bit too quickly, causing him to get stuck in the middle of a couple of apples. Sun helps rescue him and they become friends.

The book was created by Hiyoko Imai who is a Tokyo-born illustrator and designer living in Amsterdam after studying graphic design in New York. She has a minimalist and playful style, and her Japanese heritage is clear and very beautiful.

The pictures in Sun and Shiro and the Polka-Dot Snake are a papercut illustration style using Japanese washi paper and they are amazing!

The story itself is sweet and charming, a calm book about friendship and kindness. It’s also about nature and educates children about healthy eating in a discreet way too. It’s a pleasure to read for adults and children and my children find the papercut illustrations very fascinating.

Buy your copy of Sun and Shiro and the Polka-Dot Snake here. The EU and UK release date was July 6, 2021 and the international release date is September 28, 2021.

This book was provided to me for this review. As always, all my reviews are 100% honest and all thoughts and opinions are my own.