MOMO'S KITTEN

New York: The Viking Press, 1961. Near fine in very good plus dust jacket.. First edition of this scarce Yashima title, in which their daughter Momo brings home a stray cat. Taro and his wife Mitsu, real names Jun Iwamatsu and Tomoe Sasako, were antifascist activists in addition to artists; they met in the Japanese Proletarian Artists' League. After being arrested and tortured by the Japanese government for their activism, they fled to America; they took on their pseudonyms when they were hired by the Office of War Information, and later the Office of Strategic Services, to protect their family still living in Japan. They produced anti-military propaganda for Japanese consumption in various forms throughout World War II, including illustrating handbills for dropping over battlefields.
The Yashimas began writing children's books for Momo, their American-born daughter. While these were originally recollections life as a child in Japan, as Momo grew, they began writing stories about her American childhood. They capture a snapshot of the life of a midcentury Asian American family. 8'' x 9.25''. Original green publisher's cloth binding with blue stamped titles and design. Original color pictorial dust jacket, unclipped ($2.50). Color pictorial endpapers of leaves and flowers. Illustrated in color throughout. 33 pages. Mild edgewear to dust jacket, with light soil. Small scuff to extreme edge of front board, spine ends mildly bumped. Vibrant and sharp.