マヤのブッククラブ：First Post of the Series!

This post kicks off the fantastic new series, Maya's book club (or マヤのブッククラブ)! Every week or two, I will be reading a book in Japanese and writing a post about it. Stay tuned to find new wonderful Japanese book recommendations to read!

今週、崖の上のポニョと言う本を読みました。この本は、おなじの名前のえいがをもとにしています。子どもの本だったけれど、150ページでした！

おもしろい本でした。ポニョさんは魚なんですから、海でいもうととへんなフジモトさんとすんでいます。でけど、ある日、ポニョがにげちゃってしました。岸まで来て、やさしい男の子をあいました。（この男の子の名前はそうすけです。）そうすけは、ポニョをバケツに入れて、家にかえりました。

As they are returning, and Ponyo and Sousuke are getting to know each other, Ponyo licks Sousuke's finger, and heals him. After returning to his house, Sousuke goes to his mother's work, a senior living facility for women, where one of the older women dislikes Ponyo. In response, Ponyo sprays her in the face with water. Later, Sousuke takes Ponyo to school, and tries to hide Ponyo and her bucket underneath a bush. However, when he is tending to Ponyo at recess, an annoying classmate finds what he is doing, and asks to see Ponyo. After the classmate offends Ponyo, Ponyo sprays her in the face.

Fujimoto, looking for Ponyo, finds a way to get her back in the ocean, which greatly upsets Sousuke. However, just a bit later, huge waves start coming up on shore, and Ponyo rides on the back of them, trying to get back to Sousuke. Ponyo, after licking the blood off of Sousuke's finger, has taken a human form. Sousuke, surprised to see a human version of the fish friend he so adored, is delighted, and Sousuke and Lisa take home Ponyo as she rides the wave to a road close to their house. She eats ham, which she adores, and sleeps the next night.

They wake up to find the place flooded, with their entire town underwater. They are on a mission to get reunited with Lisa, and Ponyo turns a toy boat into a life-sized boat so they can ride around the water. They must go through several encounters to get to Lisa, and Ponyo gradually returns more and more to her fish state... and the rest is for you to discover!

I would highly recommend this book. While it was long, and there were a couple words I did not recognize, overall it was a very good book. There were many pictures throughout, and since I had seen the movie in the past, I slightly recognized the plot. If you want a fantastic, slightly longer Japanese children's book to read, 崖の上のポニョ is a great choice!