TOTO CHAN

In Tokyo in the years before and during the Second World War, a lively little girl is pushed out of her elementary school after her endless questions and restless behaviour overwhelm her teachers. Her mother searches for a better place and finds Tomoe Gakuen, an unusual school where lessons follow children's curiosity and pupils are free to learn in their own way. Under the warm guidance of its headmaster, the girl finds a community that accepts her as she is. Told in short, vivid episodes, the memoir shows a wartime childhood full of friendships, odd habits and small adventures, set in a school with lessons held in old railway carriages.