Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window (Japanese: 窓ぎわのトットちゃん, Hepburn: Madogiwa no Totto-chan) is an autobiographical memoir written by Japanese television personality and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Tetsuko Kuroyanagi. The book was published in 1981, and became an "instant bestseller" in Japan. The book is about the values of the unconventional education that Kuroyanagi received during World War II at Tomoe Gakuen, a Tokyo elementary school founded by educator Sosaku Kobayashi. The Japanese name of the book is an expression used to describe people whom society considers to be failures.