The Bamboo Girl
One day, an old bamboo cutter finds a tiny girl among the bamboo. Her arrival is the fulfilment of a long-cherished dream for him and his wife. Jie grows up to be a beautiful woman, and soon rich men arrive from far and wide to ask for her hand. But knowing that she can never marry because ‘she is not of this world’, Jie sets them impossible tasks. Until a nameless boy steals her heart, and she struggles to ignore her feelings.
A delicate, enchanting narrative, clear in words and pictures.De Morgen
‘The Bamboo Girl’ is an engaging and lavishly illustrated liberal adaptation of a 10th-century Japanese fairy tale. Mattias De Leeuw’s smooth, sweeping lines are reminiscent of calligraphy, while his use of bright colours conjures up the Japan of times gone by. Edward van de Vendel’s language is poetic and concise and full of beautiful imagery, which evokes a melancholic atmosphere, punctured now and then by a hint of mockery. A wondrous, extraordinary and moving fairy tale.
Van de Vendel’s language is evocative, with lots of assonance and striking metaphors. De Leeuw gives the characters incredibly animated expressions.NRC
An engaging, sky-blue and bamboo-green adaptation of a Japanese fairy taleTrouw
