Hana follows this rascally leader and her band of little monkeys into one misadventure after another. But when Tampopo leads Hana to betray her new friend, the boy Kenji, Hana decides that she had better learn to rely on her own judgment- even if it means being alone.
Illustrator Itoko Maeno returned to her native Japan to study its remarkable Macaque monkeys and to visit its fields and rustic farmhouses. She has depicted in brilliant watercolors the peaceful valley where Kenji and his grandmother live and create traditional indigo-dyed kimono cloth and the wild mountainside where Hana plays and learns.
Hana's Year begins on this mountainside among the hopeful cherry blossoms of spring and moves through the rambunctious days of summer's bounty and the wistful loneliness of autumn. It ends in the glistening snow with Hana's triumph, when it is her turn to say "Follow me!"
As Hana's seasons unfold, young people learn a valuable lesson about resisting peer pressure and taking responsibility for their own actions. They learn with Hana that everyone makes mistakes and even a monkey may sometimes fall from a tree, but a wise little monkey learns when to say "No!"