by Kiyohiko Azuma, 222 pagesFive-year-old Yotsuba Koiwai lives with her adopted dad, a freelance translator who works from home. The two go about their daily business, hang out with friends and neighbors, run errands, cook meals, and play together. It doesn't sound like much, but it's simple happiness in manga form.
In this volume, Yotsuba shops for a teddy bear (huggability test!), goes out for yakinuki (meat cheer!), and has her first encounter with hot air balloons (!!!). Throughout, there's an undercurrent of nostalgia and joy. Young readers will see the world through Yotsuba's eyes, older ones through her dad's and the other grown-ups' (who, due to infectiously-imaginative-child exposure, often see the world through Yotsuba's eyes, too). But regardless of age, the jokes are funny, the expressions are priceless, and the end result is a smile. "Enjoy everything!"
Yotsuba&! earned an Excellence Award at the 2006 Japan Media Arts Festival, has been nominated for a handful of other awards in both Japan and the U.S., and has appeared on best-of lists from Publishers Weekly, Comics Journal, and YALSA.
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