A shy Japanese boy having difficulty adjusting to school is misjudged by his classmates. Chibi has been an outcast since that frightening first day of school when he hid under the schoolhouse. Afraid of the teacher and unable to make any friends, Chibi passes his free time alone -- alone at study time, alone at playtime, always a forlorn little tag-along. But when Mr. Isobe arrives, the teacher sees things in Chibi that no one else has ever noticed...

A shy mountain boy in Japan leaves his home at dawn and returns at sunset to go to the village school. Pictures and text of moving and harmonious simplicity. --Saturday Review