How to use this Page

Last month’s PaperTigers issue featured illustrator Allen Say.  I reviewed one of his picture books Music for Alice for a previous post; this time I would like to take a look at a book of his aimed for a young adult audience, The Ink-Keeper’s Apprentice.  In this autobiographical novel, a Japanese boy of thirteen, Kiyoi, decides to apprentice himself to a master cartoonist in Tokyo named Noro Shimpei.  The story is set in post-war Japan when life was difficult, especially for aspiring artists.  Noro Shimpei is an eccentric but generous master; he takes on not only Kiyoi but Tokida, a street-savvy boy from Osaka who has ran away from home to study with him.  The two boys make an odd pair — Kiyoi from a genteel family, Tokida from a rough-and-tumble one — learning from a master who regularly moves studios and has odd teaching techniques.

The Ink-Keeper’s Apprentice is a coming-of-age story.  Kiyoi struggles with his secret desire to be an artist — an occupation he knows his family will not approve of, especially his guardian grandmother who is very conscious of the family’s class and status.  Kiyoi also begins to become aware of his sexuality.  When he goes for the first time to a life drawing class featuring a nude model, he remarks wryly:  No matter what Tokida said, staring at a grown, naked woman on a platform wasn’t natural.  It was exciting.  I began to think perhaps I should become a painter so I could have models in my studio.  The thought made my ears hot.

It’s Kiyoi’s tone-of-voice that I particularly liked in this novel.  Mature and reflective, and at the same time playfully aware of a younger, wonder-filled self, Kiyoi is a compelling narrator of his circumstances.  Although Allen Say may be better known as an illustrator, I think he is a fine writer as well.   The Ink-Keeper’s Apprentice is a very good read.

I’m a big fan of Allen Say so I was happy to see him featured recently in our illustrator’s gallery. I’ve read a number of his books but one I enjoyed recently was Music for Alice.  Alice is a Japanese American woman who loves to dance, but circumstances in her life prevent her from enjoying this dream to the full.  Born in California, Alice grows up, goes to college and marries a man named Mark who “wasn’t much of a dancer” and moves to Seattle, Washington.  Not long afterwards, the war comes, and Alice and Mark are sent to Portland, Oregon and are then removed inland to work farm fields on the eastern edge of the state.  Such hardship was difficult and as Alice puts it “Even the thought of dancing didn’t cheer me very much.”  The couple survive, however, and go on to buy a farm of their own on which they grow various crops until they hit upon the idea of growing flowers — gladioli — to be specific, and become the largest gladiola bulb growers in the U.S.

All throughout the book as Alice recounts her life, she reflects occasionally on her love of dancing.  It is not until the end of the book and the end of her life, does she suddenly come to an epiphany.  Looking on the ruins of her old farm house, she is overcome by a “wonderful feeling” that makes her suddenly ask, “Now I can dance?”  And as the book concludes, “And dance I do — all that I can.”

Music for Alice is an old woman’s meditation on the past.  Old age is its own frontier, and there are still things to learn and discover there.  Allen Say’s superb, nuanced illustrations evoke Alice’s life with clarity and depth.  I highly recommend his picture books which make wonderful reading for children and adults.