From Publishers Weekly
From 14-year-old castaway to honored samurai, Manjiro Nakahama (1827-1898), the first Japanese person to come to the United States, had more adventures than the hero of many a swashbuckler. With insight and flair, Rhoda Blumberg relays Manjiro's life story in Shipwrecked!: The True Adventures of a Japanese Boy. Handsomely illustrated with period drawings, sketches and woodblock prints, the text also explains such historical elements as 19th-century Japan's carefully enforced isolation from the Western world, the importance of the American whaling industry and the enormous cultural gaps between Japanese and American societies. ( Feb.) Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8-The true tale of a 14-year-old Japanese boy who, after being shipwrecked while fishing in 1841, was marooned for six months, rescued by an American whaling ship, educated in New England, and returned home to become an honored samurai. Blumberg was inspired to rescue this incredible story about Manjiro, also known as John Mung, when she realized that although it was well known in Japan, it enjoys only a small awareness in the West. The author's presentation illuminates what Japan's isolationist policies meant to individuals living there at that time and the immediate cultural differences that Manjiro experiences such as eating bread and sitting in chairs as the "first Japanese person to set foot in the United States." Her book packs a lot of excitement and drama into a few pages, and has lots of large, well-chosen illustrations. The title doesn't begin to hint at the incredibly varied adventures that are compacted here, deserving of a longer and more thorough treatment, but the text does convey the author's enthusiasm and awe of her subject. This is a good addition to libraries, as not only is it a fluid story about a fascinating person not yet on the shelves, but it also sheds light on many topics such as Japanese history, whaling practices, and 19th-century America.Andrew Medlar, Chicago Public Library, IL Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Gr. 5-9. Blumberg learned about Manjiro, the first Japanese person to live in the U.S., when she wrote the Newbery Honor Book Commodore Perry in the Land of Shogun (1985). Now she devotes an entire volume to his remarkable life, beginning with his childhood as a fatherless boy working as a fisherman to support his family. A shipwreck strands Manjiro on an island, where he is rescued by a passing whaling ship. He works with the crew, learning the particulars of whaling, and eventually becomes a surrogate son to the ship's captain, who takes Manjiro back to Massachusetts and to an education. After another stint at sea, Manjiro joins the gold rush and makes enough money to return to Japan. He avoids imprisonment and even death (the xenophobic era's sentence for Japanese who returned from foreign countries) by instructing the country's top officials about American customs and policies. He eventually becomes a samurai, helping broker the opening of Japanese ports to the rest of the world. Exemplary in both her research and writing, Blumberg hooks readers with anecdotes that astonish without sensationalizing, and she uses language that's elegant and challenging, yet always clear. Particularly notable is the well-chosen reproductions of original artwork, including some sketches by Manjiro himself, which help illustrate Japanese culture and viewpoints of the time, the whaling industry, and nineteenth-century America. An author's note, bibliography, and suggested Web sites conclude this outstanding biography. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


-- Booklist, starred review
"Exemplary in both her research and writing, Blumberg hooks readers with anecdotes that astonish without sensationalizing..."


-- School Library Journal, starred review
"Her book packs a lot of excitement and drama into a few pages..."


-- The Horn Book
"Manjiro's gifts shine through Blumberg's lucid narrative."


-- Bulletin of the Center for Children' s Books
"Readers will be particularly intrigued by Manjiro's observations regarding the differences between American and Japanese living standards and deportment..."


-- Bulletin of the Center for Children' s Books
"Readers will be particularly intrigued by Manjiro's observations regarding the differences between American and Japanese living standards and deportment..."


Book Description
Any person who leaves
the country to go to another
and later returns
will be put to death.

This was the law in Japan in the early 1800s. When fourteen-year-old Manjiro, working on a fishing boat to help support his family, was shipwrecked three hundred miles away from his homeland, he was heartbroken to think that he would never again be able to go home. So when an American whaling boat rescued him, Manjiro decided to do what no other Japanese person had ever done: He went to America, where he received an education and took part in events that eventually made him a hero in the Land of the Rising Sun.


About the Author
Rhoda Blumberg has written about the opening of Japan (1853-1854) in Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun, a Newbery Honor Book, which also won the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award and the Golden Kite Award. Her acclaimed histories also include The Incredible Journey of Lewis & Clark, The Great American Gold Rush, and The Remarkable Voyages of Captain Cook, all ALA Notable Books. She is the winner of the Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Award for her overall contribution to nonfiction.Rhoda Blumberg says that while doing research for Commodore Perry, "I read about the ordeals and strange adventures of Manjiro, then spent years replaying his life story in my mind until I felt impelled to write about him."The author and her husband, Gerald, live in Yorktown Heights, New York.

ANNOTATION

In 1841, rescued by an American whaler after a terrible shipwreck leaves him and his four companions castaways on a remote island, fourteen-year-old Manjiro learns new laws and customs as he becomes the first Japanese person to set foot in the United States.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In the 1800s, Japan's strict isolation laws prohibited foreigners from entering the island. So when fourteen-year-old Manjiro and four other fishermen were shipwrecked on an island far from shore, they wondered if they would ever be allowed to return home! Through a series of incredible events, Manjiro became the first Japanese person to arrive in the United States, where he experienced American culture and participated in the Gold Rush. He took part in one of the most important events of the nineteenth century, the opening of Japan, and became an honored samurai. Celebrated author Rhoda Blumberg regales us with Manjiro's exciting true story, giving us vivid impressions of Japan and of mid-nineteenth-century American life.

About the Author:
Rhoda Blumberg learned about Manjiro while researching her Newbery Honor book Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun. She lives in Yorktown Heights, NY.

FROM THE CRITICS

Horn Book

Manjiro's gifts shine through Blumberg's lucid narrative.

Bulletin of the Center for Children' s Books

Readers will be particularly intrigued by Manjiro's observations regarding the differences between American and Japanese living standards and deportment...

Book Magazine

This elegantly designed book tells the true story of Manjiro, a fourteen-year-old Japanese boy who was shipwrecked with some other fishermen in 1841. The group was rescued by an American whaling boat whose captain became fond of Manjiro and brought the boy home to Massachusetts, where he was treated like a son. Manjiro, who grew up to become a skilled sailor, risked death when he returned to his isolationist homeland, where laws forbade Japanese citizens from ever leaving. After a period of harsh treatment, he proved instrumental in opening his country to the West. Blumberg writes in clear, engaging prose, incorporating Japanese history into Manjiro's fascinating adventures. —Kathleen Odean (Excerpted Review)

Publishers Weekly

From 14-year-old castaway to honored samurai, the first Japanese person to come to the United States had more adventures than the hero of many a swashbuckler. "With insight and flair, Blumberg relays Manjiro Nakahama's (1827-1898) story, handsomely illustrated with period drawings," said PW. Ages 8-up. (Jan.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly