Author, Yoshiko Uchida

Uchida, Yoshiko. (1975). The Birthday Visitor. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, N.Y.



When I first began to read this book, I wasn't sure that I would like it. I tried to imagine myself as a child reading this book and how I could relate to the story. The story revolves around a little girl and her birthday and how she doesn't want the visitor to spoil it. What I like about the story is that it helps young readers to understand that we shouldn't stereotype people as we sometimes do. Emi had the minister stereotyped as boring and dull when, in fact, he was just the opposite. Upon his arrival is when this story actually starts to become interesting.



Uchida has written similar stories with her character, "Sumi" who is a little girl in Japan. Uchida was also very interested in the problems of the Japanese-American and some of her books, Journey to Topaz and Samurai of Gold Hill reflect this concern.