Kiki & Jax
by
Marie Kondo
Co-written and illustrated by Salina Yoon
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Publication date: 12th November 2019
Genre: Children's Picture Book
Pages: 40
RRP: $22.99AUD
Format read: Hardcover
Source: Courtesy of the publisher
Kiki and Jax are best friends, but they couldn't be more different.
Kiki likes to collect things, Jax likes to sort things.
But when things start getting in the way, can they make space for what has always sparked joy..... each other?
Kiki, a squirrel, and Jax, an owl, were
best friends but they didn’t like everything the same. Kiki loved
to collect things whilst Jax loved sorting things.
Kiki had so many things collected all
over her house she couldn’t find what she needed when Jax came over
to ask her out to play or go swimming. Kiki always had to play at Jax
house. She wished she could play with her best friend at her house
but there was no room.
Jax said he could help Kiki sort her
collections. It was his favourite thing to do. Together they sorted
and piled and stored. Now Kiki had room for all her favourite things
and most important….room for her best friend.
Marie Kondo has used her life changing
magic of tidying theories to include your children in the tidying
process. By making it fun, tidying can be something you can enjoy
together.
Salina Yoon’s full page colour
illustrations give a visual aspect to Marie Kondo’s sparsely worded
story making it perfect for even the younger children in the family.
In this time when children are at home
more than ever this is a gentle story about the benefits of keeping a
tidy room.
Although I did like the idea of sorting
and categorising items into keep, donate and throw out I think she
could have included something on storage and labelling so everything
has its place.
Kondo includes her mantra of “sparking
joy” in this story and I’m not sure how this will convert to a
child’s thinking. Everything sparks joy in a child, even if it is
that stone, feather or string they found on a walk.
Dot loves this story. We have read it
over and over. She always says “I can be Kiki”. She loves to
collect things too and she loves to look at the illustration of
Kiki’s house with all her stuff spread everywhere. We read this as
a fun story about a squirrel and an owl but not so much a story about
keeping everything sorted and tidy.
Rated by Dot 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
 |
| Photo credit: Goodreads |
Marie Kondo has been enchanted with
organising since her childhood and began her tidying consultancy
business as a nineteen year old university student in Tokyo. Today
she is a renowned tidying expert, helping people around the world to
transform their cluttered homes into spaces of serenity and
inspiration. She stars in the Netflix show Tidying Up with Marie
Kondo and is the founder of
KonMari Media, Inc. Marie has featured in numerous magazines and
newspapers and was listed as one of Time
magazine’s 100 most influential people.
Marie
lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two young children.
About the Illustrator:
 |
| Photo credit: Goodreads |
Salina
Yoon was born in Korea and emigrated to the United States at the age
of four. She is an author, illustrator and format designer and has
worked on nearly 200 books for young children, specialising in
interactive and novelty books. She lives in San Diego, California,
with her husband and their two sons.
