"A marvelous writer who deserves to be much better known in English." —Kirkus

"In the transcendent stories of Miyazawa, Earth teems with magic and wonder." —Publishers Weekly

In these delightful stories by beloved Japanese author Kenji Miyazawa, boys cross the universe on a fantastical journey, birds and flowers dream of becoming stars, polar bears exact revenge on greedy hunters, and boulders strive for a meaningful life. Originally written for children and little appreciated during his lifetime, Miyazawa's tales have since found a loyal audience spanning all ages and eras. Perhaps this is because his imaginative breadth, ability to inhabit the perspective of seemingly any being on earth, keen eye for natural beauty and unfaltering moral core make his writing unlike that of any other author.

Seven of the stories in this collection appear for the first time in English. All are newly translated by Jon Holt, who draws on his extensive knowledge of Miyazawa's life and literature to bring fresh nuance to classic stories like "One Night on the Milky Way Railroad" and "Matasaburo of the Windfields," presented here in a previously untranslated early version.

This collection of twelve Miyazawa stories includes:

• The Cat Office: Cat Bureau #6 is staffed by four cats. "Sooty Cat" struggles to deal with harassment from his coworkers while maintaining excellent customer service standards, until the entire office meets an unfortunate end
• Matasaburo of the Windfields: A personification of the wind visits a country school and tells the children about his meteorological adventures
• The Nighthawk Star: In order to escape Big Bully Hawk, a pitiful nighthawk makes a run for the stars, begging the heavens to let him take refuge there
• One Night on the Milky Way Railroad: Young friends Giovanni and Campanella take a galactic tour on a space locomotive, visiting marvelous places and learning what it means to be human; only when Giovanni returns to Earth does he realize that his friend was on his way to the afterlife
• Plus eight other enchanting tales