My Neighbor Totoro Picture Book: New Edition Hardcover – Picture Book, October 1, 2013

My seven-year-old and I have been ardent fans of Studio Ghibli movies, and have gradually amassed quite a collection of the animated features. I've also been building up a library of the picture books as they contain many of the beautiful, vivid artwork found in the feature films and the text in each book capture the essence of each movie.The story of "My Neighbor Totoro" is simple and sweet without being overly cloying. A father and his two daughters, Satsuki and Mei, move to the countryside whilst their mother recovers from an illness in the hospital. There, the sisters discover that their home is haunted by benign spirits and the younger sister Mei discovers a creature named Totoro which is a forest spirit (he looks like an oversized bunny). Totoro is a sight to behold - his large appearance and loud growls belie a gentle nature, one which is in harmony with Mother Nature. One night, as the sisters wait for their father at the bus-stop, older sister Satsuki finds Totoro standing beside her in the rain. The sisters then witness an unusual sight - a cat which is also a bus, which looks like it was inspired by Lewis Carroll's Cheshire cat!There are no villains in this charming and engaging story, and I found that quite refreshing. Even the mother's illness is vague and not a real cause for concern except perhaps in the later part of the story when Mei goes missing trying to find the hospital her mother is in. My daughter could not get enough of Totoro and begged for repeated viewings. She loves the giant, endearing creature and would watch with rapt fascination each time Totoro appeared on screen. She first watched Totoro when she was five and is still a great fan two years later. There is a magical quality about Studio Ghibli movies that make them classics one will want to watch over and over.I loved the gentle ecological message of being in harmony with nature - Totoro bequests a gift of seeds to the sisters which they plant in their garden. This is a sweet story perfect for any age, and the book makes an excellent companion to the movie.

I’m blown away by the quality and content of this book. It’s not a short, watered down version of the movie, nothing gets left out. My whole family loves this book. I cannot recommend it enough!

We found this book on Amazon and figured it would be worth a try to order as our family has been looking for a picture book or an illustrated version of our favorite movie Totoro. This book starts out by introducing the characters and it goes into the story with beautiful images from the movie throughout the book, which is exactly what we were looking for. I highly recommend this if you are a Totoro fan as a must have to your book collection. So far our son has had us read it to him every night since the book arrived. It gives us another way to celebrate one of our favorite stories.

Great print job of capturing the great colors used in the movie; this was even better than expected; love reading this to our child.

The pictures are beautiful and the story line follows the movie. It is a longer read as it covers the whole movie. But since the pictures are so bold and fill the page it is a book that you can enjoy the story without actually reading it aloud. This is beneficial to kids, too, they let their own mind tell the story. It is fun to read, too, though you might want to break it up with a book mark. That's a nice skill set, too, it prepares them for chapter books and coming back for more. The book is good quality paper and hardcover. I am very pleased with the purchase and this one will be in my forever collection.

Our 3 year old loves the movie My Neighbor Totoro. It was the first movie we took her to in the theater. This book is a great alternative when you don't want to watch the movie over and over and over (as we have, though it's adorable so I can't complain). The pictures are taken directly from the movies scenes and the story is almost identical down to some of the thing the characters say. There's a map of the village and an explanation of each character (which is great when granma is visiting and hasn't seen the movie). It's are first longer book and it's fun to bookmark and read more the next night. Highly recommended for Totoro fans!

This is for a birthday present for my granddaughter who will be 3. She loves books and Totoro!

This followed the story and the colors are rich. I would buy this for someone who loves the gentle story.