My Neighbor Totoro Picture Book: New Edition

My seven-year-old and I have been ardent fans of Studio Ghibli movies, and have gradually amassed quite a collection of the animated features. I've also been building up a library of the picture books as they contain many of the beautiful, vivid artwork found in the feature films and the text in each book capture the essence of each movie. The story of "My Neighbor Totoro" is simple and sweet without being overly cloying. A father and his two daughters, Satsuki and Mei, move to the countryside whilst their mother recovers from an illness in the hospital. There, the sisters discover that their home is haunted by benign spirits and the younger sister Mei discovers a creature named Totoro which is a forest spirit (he looks like an oversized bunny). Totoro is a sight to behold - his large appearance and loud growls belie a gentle nature, one which is in harmony with Mother Nature. One night, as the sisters wait for their father at the bus-stop, older sister Satsuki finds Totoro standing beside her in the rain. The sisters then witness an unusual sight - a cat which is also a bus, which looks like it was inspired by Lewis Carroll's Cheshire cat! There are no villains in this charming and engaging story, and I found that quite refreshing. Even the mother's illness is vague and not a real cause for concern except perhaps in the later part of the story when Mei goes missing trying to find the hospital her mother is in. My daughter could not get enough of Totoro and begged for repeated viewings. She loves the giant, endearing creature and would watch with rapt fascination each time Totoro appeared on screen. She first watched Totoro when she was five and is still a great fan two years later. There is a magical quality about Studio Ghibli movies that make them classics one will want to watch over and over. I loved the gentle ecological message of being in harmony with nature - Totoro bequests a gift of seeds to the sisters which they plant in their garden. This is a sweet story perfect for any age, and the book makes an excellent companion to the movie.

My 3 and 4 year old love Totoro and are so excited about this book. They love looking at all the pictures and talking about all the different scenes, and the story is something you can read a couple of chapters at a time for bedtime every night. The outer dust cover is so adorable, and the cover of the book itself is gorgeous. Overall I am so happy with this purchase.

This book is perfect! My 2 year old is barely transitioning away from board books and into paper hardcover books. She was absolutely captivated! So much that she wouldn’t let me put the book down and we read it in two nights (which is about 40 minutes total). The pictures to words ratio is spot on, the storyline wasn’t at all butchered by summarizing for younger minds, and it was easy for her to understand enough to enjoy. Best of all, this book was enjoyable for us to read as parents/adults. What a relief it is to not have to count with Sesame Street’s Count Dracula for once.

My granddaughter is a Totoro fan and loved this book. The pictures are just like the show and it’s a substantial book

The pictures are beautiful and the story line follows the movie. It is a longer read as it covers the whole movie. But since the pictures are so bold and fill the page it is a book that you can enjoy the story without actually reading it aloud. This is beneficial to kids, too, they let their own mind tell the story. It is fun to read, too, though you might want to break it up with a book mark. That's a nice skill set, too, it prepares them for chapter books and coming back for more. The book is good quality paper and hardcover. I am very pleased with the purchase and this one will be in my forever collection.

Came in perfect condition! Great baby shower gift!

My daughter enjoyed the animated movie, so I bought her this book and she loves it. Has a lot of pictures which she enjoys.

We found this book on Amazon and figured it would be worth a try to order as our family has been looking for a picture book or an illustrated version of our favorite movie Totoro. This book starts out by introducing the characters and it goes into the story with beautiful images from the movie throughout the book, which is exactly what we were looking for. I highly recommend this if you are a Totoro fan as a must have to your book collection. So far our son has had us read it to him every night since the book arrived. It gives us another way to celebrate one of our favorite stories.

Es perfecto para niños. Muchas imágenes de calidad,texto escueto y cuenta toda la película.

Einfach ein tolles Buch mit wunderschönen Illustrationen!

Glossy paper, loved the pictures, this is not five minutes read children love to see the pictures and listen/ read the story. I am very happy with the book. Although it came with torn binding from outside in one end, I couldn't return it as children loved the book. I had to fix it myself.

well-made book with real figures

First up, next day delivery to a regional town is insane! Well done. The book itself is great, the hardcover is nice and it's a good size for reading along with kids. It's quite lengthy and great quality for the price. It has the majority of the key scenes from the movie, though there are some exceptions). Some of the images are slightly blurry (screen grabs of the film I would assume), however for the most part the book looks great, with some of the larger images working really well. It is well suited to smaller kids (2-3 year olds will like the images, and older will be able to read along). If they like the film they'll like the book.