HEART OF A SAMURAI PB PREUS

A New York Times bestseller, Heart of a Samurai is “a terrific biographical novel” (Wall Street Journal), filled with international adventure, a look at cultural differences, and both American and Japanese history.

 
This award-winning adventure novel will thrill and enrich every young reader who picks it up.

In 1841, a Japanese fishing vessel sinks. Its crew is forced to swim to a small, unknown island, where they are rescued by a passing American ship. Japan’s borders remain closed to all Western nations, so the crew sets off to America, learning English on the way.
 
Manjiro, a 14-year-old boy, is curious and eager to learn everything he can about this new culture. Eventually the captain adopts Manjiro and takes him to his home in New England. The boy lives there for some time and then heads to San Francisco to pan for gold. After many years, he makes it back to Japan, only to be imprisoned as an outsider.
 
With his hard-won knowledge of the West, Manjiro is in a unique position to persuade the emperor to ease open the boundaries around Japan; he may even achieve his unlikely dream of becoming a samurai.

Author: Margi Preus

Book Type: Chapter book, 336 pages

Publisher: Amulet

Language: English

ISBN: 9781419702006

Dimensions: 8 X 5 X 1 inches