Outside in World | Browse Books
Use our Book Finder to search for books by Title (or part of the title), Author, ISBN, Age Range, Keyword, or Continent/Country. Then simply click the magnifying glass to start your search.
If a title starts with 'The', leave this out as this is added to the end of the title in brackets. funny pictures funny images funny photos really funny pictures
‘We need the literature of other countries to expand our
horizons and stimulate our ideas. Without it, we are not only
diminished, we are starved’
(The Times, Magnus Linklater 29/06/05)

Spring Tone (The)
by Kazumi Yumoto
Age Range: 12+
In this unusually sensitive coming-of-age story Tomoni Kiriki sees few advantages in growing up and she feels powerless to stop the inevitable changes that are happening to her body. The recurring bad dream of turning into a monster and the terrible debilitating headaches that she suffers interfere with her life and prevent her from enjoying the school holiday. As well as all of this, the closeness that her family once felt seems to be evaporating. Her beloved grandmother has recently died, her mother is deeply depressed and her father is rarely at home. The house is falling apart and her grandfather spends an inordinate amount of time and energy fixing what Tomoni considers to be old, useless junk. And as if that was not enough, their neighbour screams at his wife all day.
Tetsu her clever little brother has developed a secret life and when Tomomi goes with him one day she discovers that he visits the recycling centre with which he has become fascinated. Together they befriend a neighbourhood woman who feeds the colony of stray cats that live there and Tetsu conceives a plan to deal with their irascible neighbour. This spring both the real and the imaginary have never seemed so close for Tomomi, and she struggles to tell the difference. Slowly, sometimes painfully, she begins to explore her thoughts and feelings becoming acquainted with the ‘monster’ inside her.
Kazumi Yumoto’s novel has been translated with quiet lyricism from the Japanese by Cathy Hirano. Beautifully told with refreshing candour, this portrait of a young girl’s first steps towards womanhood is a real treasure.
Although out of print, The Spring Tone is still available on Amazon.com












































































































































































































































































































































































































































.jpg)
.jpg)













































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































.jpg)






















































































































































.jpg)


.jpg)
















































































































































































































































.jpg)
























.jpg)

.jpg)






































































































.jpg)





































































































































































































































































































































.jpg)































.jpg)
















































































































































































































































































