Manjiro (main character)
Captain Whitfield
Manjiro is usually on the sea with Captain Whitfield, but he is in Japan and America a lot. Manjiro's journey took place in the year of 1841, and then stopped in the year of 1851.
"Heart of a Samurai" is an amazing story about a boy from Japan (Manjiro) who got washed away on a ship with a few friends, and ends up taking an unexpected journey he will never forget. When his boat crashed it landed on an island;; on that island a ship of whalers came. A very nice man named Captin Whitfield from America was on that ship; he and Manjiro bonded. At one point in the story he has to decide to go to America, or go back to his family in Japan. He decided to go to America not knowing how much he will miss his mom in Japan. In the end, he ends up with two wonderful families and he has to decide whether to go home to Japan or stay in America with Mr. Whitfield. He decides to listen to heart, and so he decided to go back home to Japan. When he heads home to Japan he finds that the people don't remember him or his friends, so they put them in jail for a while. When he gets out of jail the samurais want to teach the other samurais how to speak English, because they think that America is going to attack, and that knowing how to speak English will help them in the future. So in the end he ecomplish-ed his dream to be, or help a samurai.
If you like adventure books this is definetly a great book for you. For example Mamjiro went on a adventure when his boat got washed away onto an island, or when he was on the whaling boat with Mr. Whitfield. Of course he went on a huge adventure when he traveled to America also. If you read this book you will learn what it is like to be in a totally different place where they don't speak the language you do, which I think is pretty cool.