[BOOK REVIEW] The Samurai's Daughter by Robert D. San Souci

Title:  The Samurai's Daughter

Author:  Robert D. San Souci

Artist:  Stephen T. Johnson

Genre: Family / Japan / Bravery

Year Published: 1992

Year Read:  2015

Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+  (Parental Separation)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

I had read many Japanese folktales over the years, but I had never read a folktale quite like this before!  “The Samurai’s Daughter” is a Japanese folktale that is retold by master storyteller Robert D. San Souci along with illustrations by Stephen T. Johnson and with these two elements combined; this is definitely one story that is worth reading!

Once upon a time on the east coast of Japan, there lived a loyal samurai who lived with his beautiful daughter, Tokoyo. When Tokoyo was young, her father used to teach her everything about being a samurai and Tokoyo would learn how to defend herself in battle.  However, when Tokoyo got older, her father decided to teach her to be more ladylike, which Tokoyo did not enjoy doing.  One tragic day however, the ruler of Japan decided to banish Tokoyo’s father to the Oki Islands due to suffering from a mental illness and Tokoyo is forced to separate from her father.  After this incident, Tokoyo decided to journey to the Oki Islands by herself in order to reunite with her father.

Will Tokoyo be able to reunite with her father while facing all kinds of danger on her journey?

Read this book to find out!

Wow!  I cannot believe that I have never read this book before!  I have always loved Robert D. San Souci’s retellings of many folktales and fairy tales as Robert D. San Souci’s narrations were always intriguing to read and this book was definitely no exception!  I loved the way that Robert D. San Souci wrote Tokoyo’s character as Tokoyo is shown as being a strong and independent woman who was willing to go through any kind of danger in order to reunite with her father and I really loved the fact that Tokoyo learned how to fight like a samurai as it made her into a truly unique and strong character.  I love the way that this story compares strongly to “Mulan,” as both stories take place in an Asian setting (“Mulan” in China and “The Samurai’s Daughter” in Japan) and both have strong female protagonists who are willing to go through so much danger in order to protect their loved ones (Mulan enters the army to save her father and Tokoyo travels to the Oki Islands to reunite with her father).  Stephen T. Johnson’s artwork is truly beautiful as the artwork is done in pastel paintings and they really give an authentic Japanese feel to the story that made me feel like I am actually visiting ancient Japan through these illustrations!  I loved the way that Stephen T. Johnson drew the ocean and the characters themselves as they look truly gorgeous and really complement greatly to the story.

Overall, “The Samurai’s Daughter” is a truly fantastic book for anyone who loves strong female protagonists and loves reading about ancient Japan!  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the length of this book might be a bit tiresome for smaller children.

[BOOK REVIEW] You Are Special by Max Lucado

Title:  You Are Special

Author:  Max Lucado

Artist:  Sergio Martinez

Genre:  Drama / Self-Esteem / Toys / Surrealism

Year Published: 1997

Year Read:  2015

Publisher: Crossway   

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Some Bullying)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

Now, I will admit that when I saw little wooden puppets on the cover of this book, I was truly intrigued, since I enjoy reading books that deal with puppets in general (whether the puppets are cute or horrifying).  “You Are Special” is a truly unique children’s book written by Max Lucado along with illustrations by Sergio Martinez that many children and adults will enjoy for the heartwarming message about being yourself.

Once upon a time, there was a little village where wooden people called the Wemmicks lived at and they were all created by a wood worker named Eli.  One of the main activities that the Wemmicks participated in was putting on golden stars and gray dots on each other.  The gold stars would represent how much talent that person would have, such as having smooth wood and fine paint on their bodies and being able to do spectacular tricks such as knowing big words and jumping over tall boxes.  The gray dots would represent the less attractive side of each person, such as if their wood and paint is not pretty or if they cannot do any kind of spectacular stunts, then they are awarded a gray dot.  One unfortunate wooden person named Punchinello was the one who was always getting gray dots due to him not being able to do any fantastic stunts and not having smooth wood and fine paint on himself.  Punchinello was so upset about all this that he decided not to go out into the village for fear of being given a gray dot for no reason at all.  One day, however Punchinello meets a wooden girl named Lucia who does not have any stars or dots on herself and when Punchinello wanted to know about why Lucia does not have any dots or stars on her, Lucia tells him that he should go see Eli.

What will Eli tell Punchinello?

Read this book to find out!

Now, when I saw the “10^th Anniversary” golden badge on this book, I was wondering to myself about how come this book has such a badge on the cover, as books that usually have an anniversary badge on their cover would have to be pretty well known in the reading community.  As it turns out, this book was pretty popular back in the late 1990s, it is just that I have not read this book until just recently and I honestly did enjoy the cute message of this book!  Max Lucado’s writing is truly heartwarming and creative and I loved the fact that the main characters were little wooden people who all resemble the puppet characters from “Pinocchio” (heck, the main character Punchinello is similar to Pinocchio) since I always loved stories that involved puppets.  I felt that having the main characters as wooden people really gave the book a creative flair that really made this book stand out from the other children’s books I had read.  I also loved the way that Max Lucado presented the message of being happy with who you are no matter what other people say as Punchinello is mistreated by the other Wemmicks because of the fact that he keeps getting so many gray dots on his body.  It was interesting seeing the parallels of prejudice in this book as the Wemmicks judge others by the amount of stars and dots they have on their bodies and it’s similar to how people in real life judge a person based on their accomplishments rather than who they truly are.  Sergio Martinez’s artworks is truly beautiful to look at as the Wemmick population looks extremely creative since they are drawn as wooden people and yet they act like and move like human beings.  I also loved how gorgeous the landscape looks as the Wemmick village truly stands out in this book as it looks like an old fashioned village from the Renaissance era and yet, it is unique due to the wooden people occupying the village.

The reason why I gave this book a four star rating was because even though I loved the message of this book, I felt that the book was a bit too slow in some parts and that sort of slowed down the story for me.

Overall, “You Are Special” is a great book for children who want to learn about the importance of being yourself and to remember that there are people that care about you, no matter what anyone else thinks.  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

Feature and Follow Friday #7: On the Road to Reading Again

The Feature and Follow Friday Meme is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read and basically what this meme is all about is that you get to gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogging Community by following each blogger!  All you have to do is leave your name and your blog name on the post on the main Feature and Follow Friday Meme page and then create your own post on Feature and Follow Friday and link back to the main page and then you visit as many blogs as you want and you tell the other bloggers "hi!" in their comments (on the post that has the Feature and Follow Friday Image). You follow that blogger and they follow you back!  Just make sure to follow back if that blogger follows you back!

Ever since I started my new job, I have been so busy with dealing with this job that I barely had time to blog about the books I've read or even review them.  But, now I'm hopefully getting everything straighten out and I will soon get my reviews out there as soon as possible.

Question of the Week: How do you cure a book hangover/blogging slump/reading slump? - Suggested by Take Me Away.... 

 

I'm currently in a blogging slump due to being too busy with my new job, but how I usually handle getting into any kind of slumps is that I try to find some time to read a book that I really enjoy and then once I finish the book, I wait for a few hours before I write my review for the book I've read so that way I would have time to access everything that happened in the book, while finding other new books to check out.



How about you? How do you cure a book hangover/blogging slump/reading slump?

Please feel free to comment!