What What What?

He'll talk to anyone—even total strangers—to satisfy his curiosity. But not everyone likes his questions. And because some people get annoyed with him, he asks his grandparents, "Why does everyone always get mad at me?" Still, when Pan discovers that what he mistook for Halloween makeup on a schoolmate's face won't come off, he makes sure to find out what's going on. Pan's tenacious search for answers mobilizes the community around him, showing us all that ignorance is a choice and some things demand a second glance.

Ryoji Arai was born in Yamagata, Japan in 1956. He has an illustrative style all of his own: bold, mischievous and unpredictable. Arai studied art at Nippon University. His art is at once genuine and truly poetic, encouraging children to paint and to tell their own stories. He took the Japanese picture-book world by storm in the 1990s. Since then, he has one multiple awards, including the international Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2005.

Arata Tendo was born in 1960 in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. He made his literary debut under his real name, Noriyuki Kurita, winning the Yasei Jidai Literary Award for New Writers in 1986 with his first ever novel, Shiro no kazoku (The White Family). He wrote screenplays for television and film before delving into mystery and thriller novels under the pen name he uses today. He most recently won the Naoki Prize in 2008 for his novel Itamu hito (The Mourner).

David Boyd holds a master’s degree from the University of Tokyo and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University. His translations have appeared in Monkey Business International, Granta, and Words Without Borders, among other publications.