Kazuo Iwamura, the creator of the Squirrel series and the 14 Mice series, died December 19, 2024, He was 85. Iwamura's books were originally published in Japan in the 1980s. His "Hooray For" titles, featuring the squirrel siblings, were recently re-released in the U.S. by NorthSouth Books, which is distributed by Simon & Schuster.
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Kazuo Iwamura |
In 1998, Iwamura opened the Kazuo Iwamura Picture Book Museum of the Hill in Nasu-Karasuyama, Tochigi Prefecture, where he promoted the art of the picture book and the inspiration of nature to visitors of all ages.
Herwig Bitsche, publisher of NorthSouth and NordSüd, said, "We are deeply grateful to Kazuo Iwamura... for trusting us with his stories. Kazuo Iwamura has passed, but his stories will live on in the hearts of many children."
In a recent interview with NorthSouth, Iwamura said: "I'm simply delighted by this lasting success. Obviously children all over the world are responsive to tales like these.... When I was a child, I often played out in the countryside. This love of nature is still deep inside me. When I was young, I went to art school and learned the basics of how to draw and how to express character. And today I still study plants and animals very closely, and try to sense and then depict the inner 'life' which one can't see from the outside."