“You don’t get to play with it or take care of it yourself. The zookeepers who are trained to take care of animals do that for you,” Mom said. “You send in money and the money goes toward paying for supplies for the animal you adopt. That’s a very wonderful way to help a flamingo.”
“I won’t get to feed it shrimpy things or pet it?” I asked, a heavy feeling settling in my chest.
“No, but remember we talked about this. Flamingos are wild animals. You’re helping them by donating money. You also get a certificate of adoption with photos and a fact sheet,” Mom said.
That wasn’t the same as having my own flamingo, but helping a flamingo did sound nice. I could frame my certificate and flamingo photo and hang them on my wall.
“Would you like to do this?” Mom asked. “Dad and I will be happy to pay for it. You’ve worked hard to show us how responsible you are.”
“Yes!” I said. “My very own flamingo! Thank you, Mom!”
I watched as she filled out the form online. And once she paid, there was a message that said I’d get my certificate in the mail. I couldn’t wait!
* * *
I had to wait a long time. After two weeks, my certificate and the photos of my flamingo finally arrived. Wowee zowee! My flamingo was beautiful! He stood tall on stilt-like legs as though he was proud of his pink feathers. On the certificate was my name, Jasmine Toguchi, beneath the words Certificate of Adoption of a Flamingo. I, Jasmine Toguchi, had my very own flamingo!
“You ready to go?” Dad asked me.
“One second,” I said. I ran to my room. I picked up my daruma doll and squinted. I carefully colored in his other eye with my purple marker. When I was done, I put him down next to Daruma’s fish tank.
“He looks good with two eyes,” Sophie said from my doorway.
“And one day you’ll get to color in yours,” I said. “It feels good to make your wish come true. You can do it, Sophie!”
She smiled. “Come on. Let’s go to the zoo and see your flamingo.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The daruma (dah-roo-mah) is a doll made of papier-mâché that is believed to bring good luck. The daruma is a wishing doll. When a person buys or receives a daruma, he or she makes a wish or a goal, then colors in one eye. When the wish or goal is achieved, then the person colors in the other eye.
The daruma doll is based on a real person, a Buddhist monk who sat in meditation for many years. It is his perseverance that is embodied in the daruma doll. The doll is oval, without any arms or legs, and it is weighted at the bottom. If you try to tip the doll over, it stands back up. This is meant to symbolize never giving up on your wish or goal. You might get knocked down, but you get right back up and keep trying. The stern look on the doll’s face shows his determination—determination to work toward making a wish or goal come true.
It is said that in the seventeenth century, the farmers in Takasaki, Japan, were suffering from hunger and poverty. The local temple had the people make daruma dolls to sell for extra income. Today, most daruma are still made in Takasaki.
Artists take recycled paper and turn it into pulp. The paper pulp is then formed into a mold of the daruma. Each doll is painted by hand. First, the daruma is rolled in the base paint (most often red) to cover the body. Once the body is dry, an artist uses a brush to paint the details of the face and body with a steady hand.
Red is the traditional color for daruma because the Buddhist monk on whom the doll is based wore a red robe. Red is also considered a lucky color. These wishing dolls come in other colors, too. Yellow is for money or fortune, orange is for success in school, and green is for good health. If you like, you can choose the color of your doll based on your wish!
DARUMA DOLL CRAFT
Make your own daruma to wish on, or to give as a gift to a friend or family member!
MATERIALS
• White paper plate
• Black and red markers
• Glue
• Gold glitter
INSTRUCTIONS
1. On one side of the paper plate, use a black marker to draw an oval on the top half of the plate. This is the outline of the face of the daruma.
2. Then use the black marker to draw the eyebrows and empty circles for eyes inside the oval. Use the red marker to draw a mouth.
3. Using the red marker, color in the rest of the plate, which will be the body of the daruma.
4. Decorate his clothes by using glue to make lines or designs on the body. Sprinkle gold glitter on the glue.
5. Set aside to dry.
6. Make a wish or set a goal, then color in one eye of the daruma. When your wish or goal is achieved, color in the other eye.
Good luck and have fun!
Read on for a sneak peek of …
Available now!
A
TERRIFIC
IDEA
It was safest for me to hide in my room. Mom was scrubbing the guest bathroom. Dad was getting the cardboard boxes from the garage. My big sister, Sophie, was sweeping the kitchen floor. I waited for my chance to escape the cleaning frenzy.
I, Jasmine Toguchi, do not like to clean! But I do like to climb trees, eat dessert, and make messes. I’d rather do any of those things right now.
I peeked out my bedroom window. Dad has moved into the backyard! I tiptoed out of my room. Nobody in the hall! I ran to the front door. But just as I put my hand on the doorknob, I heard footsteps behind me.
“Jasmine Toguchi, where do you think you’re going?”
I turned slowly to face my mother.
“We need to clean the house before everyone arrives tomorrow,” Mom said. “Now go help your sister.”
Walnuts! This was exactly what I was trying to avoid. Helping Sophie would mean that I did all the work while she bossed me around.
“I already finished sweeping,” Sophie announced from the next room. Scattered across the kitchen floor, small mounds of dust and bits of trash sat like sand dunes on the beach. Except this was no vacation. “You can pick it all up. I’ll let you know if you do a good job.”
Sophie is two years older than me. She thinks that makes her my boss. If that weren’t annoying enough, she also gets to do everything before me. She started school first. She learned to read first. She even started piano lessons last year, and I have to wait another year. Not that I really want to play the piano.
Sophie was always the expert. She thought she was smarter and better than me. Just once, I wished I could do something first. Just once, I wanted to be the expert.
As I swept the piles into the dustpan, Sophie climbed up onto the kitchen stool. It was like being higher up made her more in charge. This meant barking commands at me while she picked at the chipped polish on her fingernails.
“You missed a pile!”
“Stop sweeping so hard! You’re making dust fly into the air!”
“Don’t spill or you’ll have to clean it up.”
I sighed and swept.
We were getting ready for mochi-tsuki. Every year, our relatives come over to our house to celebrate New Year’s. We spend the entire day making mochi, Japanese sweet rice cakes. It’s hard work to make mochi, but there’s a reward—eating the gooey treat afterward.
Actually, all the other relatives do the hard work. In my family, you had to be at least ten years old to make mochi. This year would be Sophie’s first time getting to help. I’m only eight. Once again, Sophie would do something before I did. By the time I was ten and got to make mochi, too, she would be the expert and boss me around. That would take all the fun out of it.
This year, just like last year, I would be stuck babysitting.
I bent over, scooped, and walked to the trash can to empty the dustpan. I did this a hundred times, at least.
I wished I could help with mochi-tsuki. I didn’t want to watch DVDs with my four-year-old cousins. It wasn’t fair. I was big enough to make mochi!
�
��I’m going to help make mochi,” I said to Sophie.
She kept picking at her orange nails. “You’re too little. You’ll only get in the way.”
“I’m big enough.” Yesterday I noticed I came up to Sophie’s chin. During the summer I came up to her shoulder. I was growing!
“Just wait your turn,” she said.
This year, Sophie would sit at the table in the backyard with Mom and all the other women. She would probably get to sit right next to Obaachan, our grandma who came from Japan every year for the holidays.
“Stop pouting and finish cleaning,” Sophie said. “You’ll get your turn at mochi-tsuki when you’re ten.”
I wished there was something I could do before her. Something she could never do.
I swept up another dust pile. Suddenly, I got an idea. It was tradition for Dad, the uncles, and the boy cousins to turn the cooked rice into the sticky mochi by pounding it in a stone bowl with a big wooden hammer. That’s what I could do. I could pound mochi with the boys!
“What are you grinning about?” Sophie scooted off the stool and took the dustpan from me. “Sweep the floor again to make sure there’s nothing left.”
You needed to be strong to pound mochi. I was strong. So I swept the floor using all my muscles.
“Stop!” Sophie screeched. “You almost hit me! Mom! Jasmine tried to whack me in the head with the broom!”
Hitting Sophie sounded like good practice for pounding mochi, but I knew it would only get me in trouble.
Just then Mom walked into the kitchen, her forehead wrinkled like it always was when she got annoyed.
“Jasmine Toguchi! You know better than that. Go clean your room if you can’t work well with your sister.”
I handed the broom to Sophie with a smile and skipped to my room to work on my terrific idea!
Have you joined Jasmine on all of her adventures? Check out these other stories featuring your favorite flamingo keeper!
ENJOY MORE ADVENTURES WITH
JASMINE TOGUCHI
Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen
Jasmine Toguchi, Super Sleuth
Jasmine Toguchi, Drummer Girl
PRAISE FOR
JASMINE TOGUCHI, MOCHI QUEEN
A JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD SELECTION
AN AMAZON.COM BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
A CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST OF THE BEST BOOKS
“In this new early chapter book series, Florence introduces readers to a bright character who is grappling with respecting authority while also forging her own path. Vuković’s illustrations are expressive and imbue Jasmine and the Toguchi family with sweetness … This first entry nicely balances humor with the challenges of growing up; readers will devour it.”
—School Library Journal
“This first in the series handily introduces a plucky, strong-willed girl whose family traditions may be new to many readers but whose frustrations will be familiar to nearly all.”
—The Horn Book
“Adorable and heartwarming.”
—Booklist
“Florence … warmly traces Jasmine’s efforts to get strong (and fast), her clashes and tender moments with her family, and the ins and outs of making mochi … [The] spot illustrations evoke Japanese Sumi-e painting while playfully capturing Jasmine’s willfulness and her family’s closeness.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Florence paints a lovely picture of a warm extended family whose members truly care about one another and take each other seriously … New readers thirsty for series fiction will look forward to more stories about Jasmine and her family.”
—Kirkus Reviews
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debbi Michiko Florence is the author of the nonfiction books for children in the Kaleidoscope Kids Series, China and Japan. She is a third generation Japanese American, and many of her ideas for the Jasmine Toguchi series come from family experiences. Debbi lives in Connecticut with her husband and their two ducks, Darcy and Lizzie. Jasmine Toguchi is her fiction debut. You can sign up for email updates here.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Elizabet Vukovic received her MFA from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California. She specializes in children’s book illustration, but enjoys experimenting with character design, concept art, fashion illustration, and decorative art. She currently resides in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She illustrates the Jasmine Toguchi series, including Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen and Jasmine Toguchi, Super Sleuth. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Frontispiece
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
1. Saturday Fun Day
2. Linnie’s Surprise
3. Special Delivery
4. Make a Wish
5. Thinking Tree
6. Pet Store
7. A Project
8. Research
9. Obaachan’s Lesson
10. Action!
11. The Big Day
12. Sophie’s Wish
13. Flamingo Keeper
Author’s Note
Daruma Doll Craft
Enjoy More Adventures With Jasmine Toguchi
Praise for Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen
About the Author and Illustrator
Copyright
Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers
An imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Text copyright © 2018 by Debbi Michiko Florence
Illustrations copyright © 2018 by Elizabet Vuković
All rights reserved
First hardcover edition, 2018
eBook edition, July 2018
mackids.com
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Florence, Debbi Michiko, author. | Vuković, Elizabet, illustrator.
Title: Jasmine Toguchi, flamingo keeper / Debbi Michiko Florence; pictures by Elizabet Vuković.
Description: First edition. | New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2018. | Series: Jasmine Toguchi | Summary: Jasmine makes a wish for a pet flamingo on the special daruma doll her grandmother sent from Japan, then sets out to prove herself responsible enough for a pet.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017042322 | ISBN 9780374304201 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780374308377 (pbk.)
Subjects: | CYAC: Pets—Fiction. | Bodhidharma dolls—Fiction. | Dolls—Fiction. | Family life—Fiction. | Japanese Americans—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.F593 Jak 2018 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017042322
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eISBN 9780374304232
Jasmine Toguchi, Flamingo Keeper Page 4
