Fifth Blog Post: Heart of a Samurai

Title: Heart of a Samurai

Author: Margi Preus

Genre: Children's Literature

Pages: 145/282

Summary Section:

After three and a half years away, Manjiro was sixteen years old. He had been away from Japan for over two years, three-fourths of it spent on the sea. Manjiro and the others came to America for the first time. One day, Captain Whitfield had to go to New York for his business. Then, he returned from New York with his new wife, Albertina. Her face crinkled up so much when she smiled that her twinkly blue eyes almost disappeared in her round cheeks. She smiled a lot, and Manjiro liked her right away. Manjiro had a room to himself with land to roam and farm animals to tend, a stream to fish and just like a real samurai a horse to ride. He weeded the garden, fed chickens, gathered eggs, milked the cows and tended to many other tasks that filled up his summer days. When he finished his chores, he rode his horse called Plum Duff around the farm. He fell off Plum Duff. When the horse disappeared, Terry came to Manjiro. The name of Plum Duff was meaning of the best food on whale ship. School was where it would all begin. Manjiro had never been to school. He didn’t know how to read and write even his own language, Japanese. Now he was going to learn to read and write in English. Therefore he would have to attend class with the little children. Sixteen years old boys like him when to different schools of Navigation. That place was for students who excelled in school, who were likely to go on to be whaling learn mathematics, surveying and most important all the secrets of navigation. However he began his education at the Stone House School, where he studied arithmetic, learned the alphabet, worked at reading and writing English and practiced a thing called penmanship. But not all the times, when he wasn’t in the school, he helped Captain with the chores. Manjiro was going to study hard. He was going to use good English and corrected grammar and worked hard on his spelling. He was going to pay attention to the teacher, not asked too many questions and he was not going to get into trouble. 

Response Section:
I really enjoyed the chapters while I read the book. I satisfied the story because it was fun and different place, time and scene. It was not on the sea and not a same year.

Passage Section:

"No trouble!" 

This passage is when Captain Whitfield talked to Manjiro "Mr. Bartlett has agreed to give you a try with some conditions. You have to be able to keep up with the other students; your English must be up to his standards reading, writing and speaking and you can't get into any mischief"

"Mischief?" Manjiro repeated.

"Trouble. He doesn't want any trouble on your account" Captain said. 

This passage is when Captain encouraged to Manjiro about English and school. Probably this passage is made Manjiro was not be in any trouble. It is really encouragement passage. That's the reason why I like the passage.