Ty Hulse’s “Japanese Folktales for Children” is a 37-page self-published work which both showcases his unique yet rudimentary art-style as well as retells Japanese bed-time stories for a younger audience. The book is written in the style of adult-narration to a younger audience, rather than having them read on their own.  This book would be enjoyable for Japanese-American children aged 4-10, or any other multicultural family.

The artwork is enjoyable, with a color illustration existing on every page. Hulse has a recognizable art-style, though all of the drawings show signs of initial-sketch work rather than professional finalized-drafts.  The illustrations of “Two Frogs” made me laugh happily.  The palette choice for the watercolors were very well selected.

The eight stories are as follows: “The Laughing Dumpling”, “Crane Feathers”, “The Badger and the Snail”, “The Yokai”, “The Mountain Kami and the Ugly Fish”, “The Fox, the Puppy and the Rat”, “Two Frogs”, and “The Witch of the Mountain.”

The Folktales are entertaining, but the context and messages might be lost on younger readers.  An introduction or more fleshed out glossary would have helped the adult better explain the what-and-whys of Folktales, which are even sometimes needed for the work of Aesop and Grimm as well.  There are also a few translation difficulties, such as words like “Oni”, “O-Tsuru”, and “Tefukuyama” (which is probably based off of Fukuyama: the Japanese term for Mount Fuji).

Hopefully in the future, there will be an omnibus collection of Ty Husle’s work, in a more professional format (the book’s 11 x 8.5 dimensions are very common for self-published works), but for now these released should serve as a portfolio for his talent and potential rather than the completed work his is capable of achieving.

The book is available from the author’s website, and a more broad collection of artwork can be found on his Facebook page.