Jasmine Toguchi, Super Sleuth

by Debbi Michiko Florence

  “There’s Our Town,” Linnie exclaimed, pointing to a green flyer.

  “And here’s Romeo and Juliet,” I said. “And look! Alice in Wonderland. I know that story.”

  “What does this mean?” Linnie asked.

  I thought about the lists of clothes I had found. “What if all these clothes weren’t disguises, but costumes?” I said. “Like the ones we made for your paper dolls?”

  “Oh!” Linnie said.

  “Maybe Mrs. Reese made costumes for people!”

  “You’re so smart, Jasmine!” Linnie said.

  “I couldn’t have done it without you,” I said.

  “Really?”

  “Yes! I only thought about costumes because you wanted to make outfits for your dolls!” I said. “We are a good team!”

  “I like that,” Linnie said.

  “But let’s find out for sure,” I said.

  We put everything away neatly and went to Mrs. Reese’s door. Wowee zowee! Something smelled really chocolaty and yummy.

  “We would like to invite you to come on our Girl’s Day picnic,” I said when Mrs. Reese answered the door. The chocolate smell was even stronger. She was wearing a white apron. I wondered if it was from her box in the garage.

  “Thank you! That would be lovely,” she said with a smile. “I just baked some brownies, without nuts, the way you like them. I can bring them to your picnic.”

  “Can we ask you a question?” I asked.

  “Of course,” Mrs. Reese said.

  “Are those clothes in your garage costumes for plays?” I asked.

  Mrs. Reese’s eyes went wide and she smiled big. “Did you figure that out yourself?”

  “I had help,” I said, nudging Linnie, who giggled. “We saw the posters in one of the boxes, and the lists of clothes. And Sophie is studying plays in her class. And Linnie likes to make costumes for her dolls.”

  “I’m impressed,” Mrs. Reese said. “You took all those clues and figured it out. Yes, I used to be a costume designer for a theater.”

  “You really are a super sleuth,” Linnie said to me.

  “And you’re a super–best friend,” I replied.

  * * *

  A few minutes later, while Sophie and Linnie looked at the Girl’s Day dolls one last time, I went to the kitchen to tell Mom that Mrs. Reese would be joining us.

  Mom handed me the cloth napkins while she packed sandwiches into the picnic basket.

  “I’m glad you and Linnie made up,” Mom said. “And I’m glad Sophie decided to celebrate with us. Did you have something to do with that?”

  “Maybe,” I said as I folded the napkins. “I think she wanted to be with us, but wanted to act too grown-up for Girl’s Day at the same time. I wish things didn’t have to change.”

  “I know what you mean.” Mom took the folded napkins and put them in the basket. “I love celebrating with you girls, but I know it can’t stay the same forever. You’re both growing up. When I was a little girl, I didn’t ever want Girl’s Day to be different, but now I get to celebrate with my daughters. That makes me very happy.”

  “Are you sad you don’t get to celebrate with Obaachan anymore since she lives in Japan?” I asked.

  “I miss her,” Mom said, “but change doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Growing up, like you wanting to make mochi, is a part of life. Just make sure you’re doing things because you want to, not because of what others might think.”

  I nodded. Sophie might still like dolls, but she was worried that playing with them might make her look like a baby. If she wasn’t so worried about what other people thought, she could just have fun.

  “I like our tradition of Girl’s Day,” I said. “I like hanging out with you and with Sophie, because we don’t get to do that a lot. But I also like hanging out with Linnie. Even if that’s not tradition.”

  “Me, too,” Mom said. “But the nice thing about change and growing up is getting to make new traditions.” She smiled, holding out her hand. I grabbed it, and we walked together to get Sophie and Linnie for our picnic. I hopped with excitement half the way.

  My big weekend plans had turned out perfectly: I had solved the mystery of Mrs. Reese’s past. Sophie had joined in on our celebration. Mrs. Reese was coming to our picnic and was bringing brownies! Mom was happy. And best of all, Linnie and I were still the very best of friends.

  It didn’t take a super sleuth to see that this really was the best Girl’s Day ever! I couldn’t wait to see what next year’s would be like. It might be different, but it would still be super-great!

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Girl’s Day, also called Hina-Matsuri (hee-nah-mah-tsoo-ree), or Doll Festival, takes place on March 3. It is a special day in Japan to celebrate girls. Girls dress up in their best kimonos (kee-moh-noh). Families display a special set of dolls. These dolls represent the imperial court. At the very top step of the platform are the emperor and empress. On the lower steps are the court ladies, guards and ministers, musicians, and miniature furniture. Families also display peach blossoms in the home for beauty. There are special diamond-shaped mochi (moh-chee; Japanese treats made out of sweet rice) colored in pink, white, and green layers. Pink symbolizes the flowers of spring, white stands for purity, and green is for new growth. It is thought that this holiday originated from a tradition of floating paper dolls in a river to get rid of bad luck.

  Kimonos are beautiful robe-like silk garments worn in Japan. In the past, people wore kimonos every day. Today, people usually wear kimonos only during special festivals or when they get married. There are many layers to a traditional kimono. First comes the juban (ju-bahn), or under-kimono. Tabi (tah-bee) are socks that are like mittens for your toes so you can wear the special shoes called geta (gheh-tah). The kimono comes next and overlaps left over right. The last step is to put on the obi (oh-bee), or sash belt, with a fancy bow tied in back. The kimono is wrapped tightly. Both men and women wear kimonos, but women’s are brightly colored and are decorated with beautiful designs while, typically, men’s kimonos are plainer.

  There is also a special day for boys, called Boy’s Day, or Tango no Sekku (Tahn-goh noh Sehk-koo), which is celebrated on May 5. In 1948, the Japanese government announced that May 5 would be a national holiday to celebrate all children. Now it is called Children’s Day, or Kodomo no Hi (Koh-doh-moh noh hee).

  ORIGAMI PAPER DOLL

  SUPER-FUN TO MAKE WITH YOUR BEST FRIENDS!

  MATERIALS

  • Origami paper or any square piece of paper

  • Markers

  • Colored pencils or crayons

  INSTRUCTIONS

    1.  Lay the paper flat. If you’re using printed origami paper, put the plain side facing up.

    2.  Fold the bottom 1/3 of the way up.

    3.  Turn the paper so the folded part is on the left.

    4.  Fold the bottom 1/3 of the way up.

    5.  Turn the paper so the plain/blank end is pointed up.

    6.  Flip the paper over.

    7.  Fold the bottom point up to make a small triangle.

    8.  Flip the paper over again.

    9.  The plain section is the doll’s face. Draw your doll’s face. You can also decorate the rest of your doll.

  10. When you’re done, you can stand your doll up using the small bent triangle at the back.

  Read on for a sneak peek of …

  A Terrific idea

  It was safest for me to hide in my room. Mom was scrubbing the guest bathroom. Dad was getting the cardboard boxes from the garage. My big sister, Sophie, was sweeping the kitchen floor. I waited for my chance to escape the cleaning frenzy.

  I, Jasmine Toguchi, do not like to clean! But I do like to climb trees, eat dessert, and make messes. I’d rather do any of those things right now.

  I peeked out my bedroom window. Dad has moved into the backyard! I tiptoed out of my room. Nobody in the hall! I ran to the fro
nt door. But just as I put my hand on the doorknob, I heard footsteps behind me.

  “Jasmine Toguchi, where do you think you’re going?”

  I turned slowly to face my mother.

  “We need to clean the house before everyone arrives tomorrow,” Mom said. “Now go help your sister.”

  Walnuts! This was exactly what I was trying to avoid. Helping Sophie would mean that I did all the work while she bossed me around.

  “I already finished sweeping,” Sophie announced from the next room. Scattered across the kitchen floor, small mounds of dust and bits of trash sat like sand dunes on the beach. Except this was no vacation. “You can pick it all up. I’ll let you know if you do a good job.”

  Sophie is two years older than me. She thinks that makes her my boss. If that weren't annoying enough, she also gets to do everything before me. She started school first. She learned to read first. She even started piano lessons last year, and I have to wait another year. Not that I really want to play the piano.

  Sophie was always the expert. She thought she was smarter and better than me. Just once, I wished I could do something first. Just once, I wanted to be the expert.

  As I swept the piles into the dustpan, Sophie climbed up onto the kitchen stool. It was like being higher up made her more in charge. This meant barking commands at me while she picked at the chipped polish on her fingernails.

  “You missed a pile!”

  “Stop sweeping so hard! You’re making dust fly into the air!”

  “Don’t spill or you’ll have to clean it up.”

  I sighed and swept.

  We were getting ready for mochi-tsuki. Every year, our relatives come over to our house to celebrate New Year’s. We spend the entire day making mochi, Japanese sweet rice cakes. It’s hard work to make mochi, but there’s a reward—eating the gooey treat afterward.

  Actually, all the other relatives do the hard work. In my family, you had to be at least ten years old to make mochi. This year would be Sophie’s first time getting to help. I’m only eight. Once again, Sophie would do something before I did. By the time I was ten and got to make mochi, too, she would be the expert and boss me around. That would take all the fun out of it.

  This year, just like last year, I would be stuck babysitting.

  I bent over, scooped, and walked to the trash can to empty the dustpan. I did this a hundred times, at least.

  I wished I could help with mochi-tsuki. I didn’t want to watch DVDs with my four-year-old cousins. It wasn’t fair. I was big enough to make mochi.

  “I’m going to help make mochi,” I said to Sophie.

  She kept picking at her orange nails. “You’re too little. You’ll only get in the way.”

  “I’m big enough.” Yesterday I noticed I came up to Sophie’s chin. During the summer I came up to her shoulder. I was growing!

  “Just wait your turn,” she said.

  This year, Sophie would sit at the table in the backyard with Mom and all the other women. She would probably get to sit right next to Obaachan, our grandma who came from Japan every year for the holidays.

  “Stop pouting and finish cleaning,” Sophie said. “You’ll get your turn at mochi-tsuki when you’re ten.”

  I wished there was something I could do before her. Something she could never do.

  I swept up another dust pile. Suddenly, I got an idea. It was tradition for Dad, the uncles, and the boy cousins to turn the cooked rice into the sticky mochi by pounding it in a stone bowl with a big wooden hammer. That’s what I could do. I could pound mochi with the boys!

  “What are you grinning about?” Sophie scooted off the stool and took the dustpan from me. “Sweep the floor again to make sure there’s nothing left.”

  You needed to be strong to pound mochi. I was strong. So I swept the floor using all my muscles.

  “Stop!” Sophie screeched. “You almost hit me! Mom! Jasmine tried to whack me in the head with the broom!”

  Hitting Sophie sounded like good practice for pounding mochi, but I knew it would only get me in trouble.

  Just then Mom walked into the kitchen, her forehead wrinkled like it always was when she got annoyed.

  “Jasmine Toguchi! You know better than that. Go clean your room if you can’t work well with your sister.”

  I handed the broom to Sophie with a smile and skipped to my room to work on my terrific idea!

  ENJOY MORE ADVENTURES WITH

  JASMINE TOGUCHI

  Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Debbi Michiko Florence is the author of two nonfiction books for children in the Kaleidoscope Kids Series, China and Japan. She is a third generation Japanese American, and many of her ideas for the Jasmine Toguchi series come from family experiences. Debbi lives in Connecticut with her husband and their two ducks, Darcy and Lizzie. Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen and Jasmine Toguchi, Super Sleuth is her fiction debut. You can sign up for email updates here.

  ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

  Elizabet Vuković received her MFA from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California. She specializes in children's book illustration, but enjoys experimenting with character design, concept art, fashion illustration, and decorative art. She currently resides in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. You can sign up for email updates here.

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  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  1.  Big Plans

  2.  My Best Friend, Linnie Green

  3.  Mrs. Reese’s Garage

  4.  Dressing Up

  5.  Too Old for Dolls

  6.  What a Mess

  7.  A Lot of Problems

  8.  Sleuthing for Clues

  9.  A Discovery

  10.  The Brave One

  11.  Figuring It Out

  12.  Happy Girl’s Day

  13.  Super Sleuth

  Author’s Note

  Origami Paper Doll

  Excerpt from Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen

  Also by Debbi Michiko Florence

  About the Author and Illustrator

  Copyright

  Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers

  175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010

  Text copyright © 2017 Debbi Michiko Florence

  Illustrations copyright © 2017 Elizabet Vuković

  All rights reserved

  First hardcover edition, 2017

  eBook edition, July 2017

  mackids.com

  Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

  Names: Florence, Debbi Michiko, author. | Vuković, Elizabet, illustrator.

  Title: Jasmine Toguchi, super sleuth / Debbi Michiko Florence; illustrations by Elizabet Vuković.

  Description: First edition. | New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2017. | Series: Jasmine Toguchi | Summary: Jasmine has looked forward to spending Girl’s Day with her family and best friend, Linnie, but first her sister says she will not participate, and then Jasmine upsets Linnie. | Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2016038113 (print) | LCCN 2017017614 (ebook) | ISBN 9780374304157 (Ebook) | ISBN 9780374304133 (hardcover) | ISBN 978097430835
3 (pbk.)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Family life—Fiction. | Best friends—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Holidays—Fiction. | Japanese Americans—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.1.F593 (ebook) | LCC PZ7.1.F593 Jas 2017 (print) | DDC [E]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016038113

  eISBN 9780374304157