Totto-chan

By King Meera -
Summary (one-line recaps of every single chapter)

Totto-chan as Children's Literature:

 A literary genre is a category of literary compositions. Genres may be determined by technique, tone, content, or length. According to Anderson, there are six categories of children's literature (with some significant subgenres): picture-books, traditional literature, fiction, non-fiction, biography and autobiography, and poetry and verse.

 Totto chan, the Little Girl at the Window, written by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, classifies as autobiographical children's literature.

Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's nickname as a child was Totto-chan. Kuroyanagi went to Tomoe Elementary School (Tomoe Gakuen) when she was young.  Kuroyanagi published her children book Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window, about the values of the unconventional education that she received at Tomoe Gakuen elementary school during World War II, and her teacher Sosaku Kobayashi. The book is considered her childhood memoir.

 This engaging series of childhood recollections tells about an ideal school in Tokyo during World War II that combined learning with fun, freedom, and love. This unusual school had old railroad cars for classrooms, and it was run by an extraordinary man-its founder and headmaster, Sosaku Kobayashi-who was a firm believer in freedom of expression and activity.

In real life, the Totto-chan of the book has become one of Japan's most popular television personalities-Tetsuko Kuroyanagi. She attributes her success in life to this wonderful school and its headmaster.

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