THE BOY AND THE SAMURAI

by Erik Christian Haugaard ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1991

The author of The Samurai's Tale (1984) returns to Tokugawa-era Japan for this leisurely follow-up. Surviving an encounter with a gang of local robbers plus several other adventures, Saru, a seven-year-old orphan, falls in with a kindly priest who shelters and educates him. Seven years later, Saru and the priest help Murakami the samurai rescue his wife, Aki, from the clutches of an evil overlord; together, the four flee the city, cross the mountains, and settle into a peaceful life by the sea. The cast here is large and varied, but most characters appear only briefly while Haugaard uses Sam's encounters with them as opportunities to deliver pithy ruminations on war, justice, human nature, and the like, illuminating the Japanese character and society only secondarily. Readers of Paterson's novels about historical Japan, or the more lurid work of Namioka, may be disappointed by the slow pace here and the way great events remain distant and vague. Still, as in his other fine books, Haugaard's voice is strong and distinctive as he writes of universal hopes and fears.

Pub Date: March 1, 1991

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 221

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1991

Categories: CHILDREN'S