© AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine However, the intriguing and well-researched plot would be better served with a more dramatic production, and, despite the strength of the story, the producers may miss opportunities to connect young listeners to a foreign place and time. An accomplished actor, Arthur Morey does an acceptable job of relaying the story. In his attempts to understand the ways of the samurai, Toyo gains personal insight and applies his new knowledge to his favorite pastime. After witnessing his uncles ceremonial suicide, Toyo is accepted to an elite school, where he works to earn a place on the baseball team. Samurai Shortstop Alan Gratz Penguin, 2008 - Juvenile Fiction - 280 pages 6 Reviews Reviews aren't verified, but Google checks for and removes fake content when it's identified Tokyo, 1890. Set in the late 1800s in a changing Japan, this story is about baseball-and more. Currently, Alan lives with his wife Wendi and daughter Jo in the high country of western North Carolina, where he enjoys reading, eating pizza, and, perhaps not too surprisingly, watching baseball. In addition to writing plays, magazine articles, and a few episodes of A&E's City Confidential, Alan has taught catapult building to middle schoolers, written more than 6,000 radio commercials, and lectured as a Czech university. After a carefree but humid childhood, he attended the University of Tennessee, where he earned a College Scholars degree with a specialization in creative writing and later a Master's degree in English education. Historical fiction, sports fiction, Samurai Shortstop, Alan Gratz, book for boys and girl, Asian studies, JapanĪdd to: | Technorati | Digg | Gratz was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee. Teachers could also use this book to discuss the issues their students face in assimilating or rejecting their own cultural heritage. The quality of research and attention to detail which Gratz includes makes this an excellent supplementary book for Asian studies particularly in the period prior to World War I. After witnessing his uncles ceremonial suicide, Toyo is accepted t. I would recommend this book for middle and high school students. Set in the late 1800s in a changing Japan, this story is about baseball-and more. Haiku by Japanese baseball player and poet Shiki Masaoka (1890) By opening the book with the following haiku, Gratz sets the stage for this well-written historical and sports novel. "…the warrior's way is the twofold path of the brush and the sword," Sotaro tells Toyo on his sixteenth birthday. From his first day at boarding school, Toyo Shimada sees how upperclassmen make a. But wasn't that what Japan was herself doing-taking the best of what the rest of the world had to offer and making it her own?" p. High school can be brutal, even in turn-of-the-century Japan. Toyo is caught up in the competitive world of boarding school, and must prove himself to make the team in a new. SAMURAI SHORTSTOP CODEAs Toyo struggles with his decision, he realizes that, "…maybe they could take the warrior code and leave the worst elements of the samurai behind. In a poignant passage, his fellow players come and ask him for bushido lessons so that they can become better baseball players. The two symbols, the bat and the sword, play significant roles as Toyo angrily wrestles with Sotaro's insistence that he learn bushido (the samurai code). Which rules and family traditions will Toyo embrace and bring with him into his adult life? Which rules will he throw off? This is the not only Toyo's decision, but one that faces all young people, in every culture and every time period. Readers of Samurai Shortstop (Dial 2006) will discover a coming of age book both for Toyo (the main character) as well as for the "new" Japan.Īlthough set in the end of the 19 th century, this is the story of every young person who wrestles with having one foot imbedded in the traditions of family and culture, the other foot ready to sprint into the future. But if you're Alan Gratz, you will discover the story of how a Japanese teenager brings together his father's samurai traditions with his own passion for the gaijin sport, baseball. At first glance, you wouldn't think that these two have much in common.
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