Book Report and Review - Totto-chan; The Litte Girl at the Window
Rabu, 12 Oktober 2016 | 0 comments
I. Summary
Tetsuko
Kuronayagi (Totto-chan for short) started her stories when she was expelled from her elementary school because of her
manner. She used to open and close her desk hundreds of times which it was
really annoying for the people in the class. When she was not making a clatter
with her
desk, she was standing up at the window in order to invite the street musician over and the children would crowd by the window and call out to the musician. Instead of calling the street musician, Totto-chan was also talking to swallows making a nest under the classroom eaves. For the teacher, those are so annoying so that Totto-chan would better be moved to another school. Luckily Totto-chan has such a kind and wise mother that the mother brought Totto-chan to another school without telling the true reasons.
Her
new elementary school is very different from other elementary schools. For its
classroom, the school had made use of six abandoned railroad cars. Tomoe
Gakuen, a school in the train! Besides, Tomoe has a rule which each of the
students can choose her/his lesson schedule in that day. If children start it
with lesson they like, absolutely the learning activity will be alive and fun.
Totto-chan
is really excited with her new school. When the first time she entered Tomoe
Gakuen, the headmaster who also a music master, Mr. Sosaku Kobayashi, did not
mind listening Totto-chan’s stories up to four hours. Moreover, Mr. Kobayashi
also applies the learning ways which can pull up children’s own talents, let
them grow up with nature rhythm without any pressure which cause the feeling of being oppressed when they study.
Mr.
Kobayashi also instills morality, autonomous, and self-confidence into each of
his students. In order to make it a habit, the headmaster asks the students to
bring their own lunch with something from the ocean and something from the
hills which make Totto-chan thinks that lunch at school could be as much fun as
that. Not only in the class the learning session be held, but also outside of
the school by walking around the village. From walking session, students can
get many precious lessons about science, history, and also biology.
One
day Totto-chan accidently dropped her purse down to the toilet , Totto-chan
immediately started ladling out the contents of the cassepool. In that moment
the headmaster happened to pass by, instead of saying “what in the earth are you doing?!” or “Stop
it, it is very dangerous”, yet he said “you will put it all back when you’ve
finished, won’t you?”. These words successed to make Totto-chan fulfill her
promise by putting all the solid stuff and the pile back.
Their
daily school life had been somehow instilled into them that they amazingly well behaved when they
got on the Tokyo train at Jiyugaoka,
that they should get in line and walk properly and keep quite in the
train, and not drop litter on the floor when they ate their food, and that they
should try not to do that annoyed or disturb other.
Mr.
Kobayashi also taught the students about Eurythmics, a music education through
rhythm to make the personality rhythmical. And a rhythmical personality is
beautiful and strong, , conforming to and obeying to the laws of nature. It is begun with training the body to
understand the rhytym.
the
headmaster also had successed to instill the confidence of his students to wear
their worst clothes or threadbare clothes they ever have so that it wouldn’t
matter if they got muddy or torn. He also successed to make Takahashi, a
stopped-growing kid, be more confident by holding sport day with making all the
track of the race comfort to Takahashi condition so that he easily got win. As a result,
Takahashi won almost the races. The first winner got a giant radish; second
winner two burdock roots; third winner a bundle of spinach. Until she was much
older Totto-chan thought all schools gave vegetables for Sports Day prizes.
In
another opportunity, Mr. Kobayashi introduced a new teacher who was actually
not a teacher, the man was a farmer working in the field by the stream. The
headmaster didn’t care about teacher certificate. The farming teacher told the
students all about weeds; how hardly they were; how some grew faster than crops
and hid the sun from them; how weeds were good hiding places for bad insects;
and how weeds could be a nuisance by taking all the nourishment from the soil.
The also showed them how to hoe; how to make forrows; how to spread fertilizer;
and everything else you had to do to grow thigs in a field. Moreover, he told
interesting things about insects, birds, butterflies, and weather.
Mr.
Kobayashi always gives positive motivation to all the pupils at Tomoe.
Totto-chan who was ever expelled from her previous school, always be given a
positive motivation by the headmaster saying that, “you are really a good girl,
you know” and it becomes a meaningful saying from the headmaster in all over
Totto-chan’s life.
It
was an interesting thing happen when a new pupil came to Tomoe, named Miyazaki
who was grown up in America. Mr. Kobayashiasked the students to learn English
and American life from Miyazaki. They fast became friends and learned language
and culture. What makes it interesting is at that time America is a big enemy
of Japan, and English was not taught anymore in the schools. But Mr. Kobayashi
believed that by learning English and its culture, it will expand the students’
knowledge.
The
situation was getting harder when Great East Asia War happened and bombing
everywhere in Japan. In the 1945, Tomoe burned down. Lots of incendiary bombs
dropped by the B29 bombers enveloped in flames. In the midst of it all, the
head master stood in the road and watched Tomoe burn and asked to his
university-student son what kind of
school he should build next. Mr. Kobayashi’s love for children and his passion
for teaching were stronger than the flames enveloping the school.
II. Review
Title : Totto-chan ; The Little Girl at the WindowAuthor : Tetsuko KuronayagiPublisher : Kodansha Publishers Ltd.Thick : 229 Pages
Tetsuko
Kuronayagi is a very brilliant writer who successfully spread her personal
experiences when she was in elementary school. She was the little girl in the
window whose childhood was full of experience, and many moral values or lessons
we can get from the story.
Totto-chan;
The Little Girl in The Window is an impressive novel I have ever read. In delivering
her precious stories, Tetsuko uses Totto-chan’s point of view, so that the
language used is as simple as what kid’s thinking. with the antics of a kid in behaving makes us
tingle sometimes, some parts of the story have humor within it which make us
don’t feel at the loose end in reading it. Even though Tetsuko is around 48
when she wrote the novel, but she ended it perfectly. It cannot be denied that what makes this novel
is worth reading is the simplicity of the language and surely the abundant of
moral value.
Instead
of Tetsuko’s using Totto-chan’s point of view, there is a further point that I
want to appreciate is that its contents rich of lesson. So many moral value
that I even have not ever imagined before. This novel, if we have lots of
understanding of this novel, can teach us so many things that certainly may
help us in growing our future kids. In my opinion, every story has its purpose
to represent precious values. We can find such as etiquette toward others,
understanding each other, losing something, appreciating something, etc. Those
are some of the things we can learn from the novel.
Considering
from the points above, I think this novel is really worth reading book for all
age, especially for children and teenagers. From its contents, it can be used
to be a reference in developing education nowadays.
Out
of the outstanding points contained in the novel, I think there is no any flaws
inside the novel.
Label: Book report review, Novel, resensi novel Totto-chan, review novel, summary novel, Totto-chan novel
