Ten Oni Drummers

Book excerpt: In this playful, rhyming story, young children find reassurance and comfort for their fears when scary dreams come their way. Through art and story, children also learn about Japanese taiko drumming and the Japanese words and characters for the numbers one to ten. At dusk, on a beach in Japan, a young boy falls asleep and begins to dream, but soon he has company--a tiny oni, creeping up from the sand. Throughout the night, one by one, more oni appear, until there are ten in all, and they grow bigger, too. They begin beating their taiko drums, louder and louder. They play games, have a big meal, and eventually chase away the boy's scary dreams. With bright watercolor paintings, Stone draws on the folk culture of her native Japan to portray the monsters as both frightening and funny. A delightful read-aloud that's part counting exercise and part bedtime story!