Mottainai Grandma is a Japanese original, written by Shinju Mariko in 2004. This book sold more than 400,000 copies in Japan. This book has been translated into chinese. 

The Story

The book begins: "Mottainai Grandma is coming!" The super frugal Mottainai Grandma comes to visit her grandson. During her visit, she admonished her grandson for wasting rice. Not only did she finished up the leftover rice in his bowl, she attempted to lick the leftover rice from his face, leaving the little boy screaming for help!

"Don't waste water", she said, when she forbidded him from using more than one cup of water for brushing his teeth.   

Through this book, Mottainai Grandma will teach us how to make the best use of dried orange skin, coloured pencils and crumpled scraps of paper. Despite all these, grandma clearly loves her little grandson. 

Mottainai Grandma is a very cute character that will leave an impression on your child. Let your child laugh while learning from Mottainai Grandma how not to be wasteful. It has colourful illustration that your kid will love. This book is really funny. A great read, with a comical twist.  

This book is in hard cover. Simplified chinese.  For reading to your child, this book is suitable for children from 3 up. For self read, it may suit children of 6 and above.

Books of Similar Genre

If you are looking to teach your kid about conservation, you may like to check out the titles, "When We Eat Up The Earth" [如果世界被我们吃掉了] and Something From Nothing [爷爷一定有办法‘.  

内容简介

读了书名，你肯定就已猜到，怕浪费婆婆一定是位特别爱惜东西、注意节俭的老人。的确，如果看见有人浪费，她可绝不允许。而且她总有各种办法处理那些没有被好好利用的东西，不管是吃剩的饭菜，还是揉皱的纸团……

　　节约，历来就是一种传统美德，也是我们人生的必修课，《怕浪费婆婆》把这个问题讲述得特别生动有趣。本作品的创作源自真实的生活场景，作者用幽默夸张的手法，为我们营造出了阅读的快乐：故事生动，情节紧凑，在起伏回环中一步步引读者走向高潮；出人意料的结尾又令人深思；那句反复出现的“太浪费了”让我们在阅读中享受着童谣一样的节奏感和韵律美；婆婆和小男孩的造型以及整部作品的绘画都带有明显的儿童画风格，会让小读者们觉得亲切而又熟悉。

　　令人印象深刻的是，怕浪费婆婆的形象极具特色：旧式的衣服、拢起的发髻、圆圆的老花镜、细细的小拐棍，还有眼角的皱纹、努起的小嘴……俨然一位现实生活中的婆婆；她的眼神、表情和动作，都充满了固执、唠叨、朴实和孩子气……¬正是这样一位婆婆，打动了我们，在不经意间把勤俭节约的观念植入了小读者的内心。