Customer Reviews

Kazunomiya: Prisoner of Heaven, Japan 1858

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As a princess of Japan in the year 1858, twelve-year-old Kazunomiya lives a life of privilege and luxury. But it is one in which she is a virtual prisoner, kept sheltered behind palace walls, only able to leave for the occasional visit to a temple or shrine. But her predictable life is changing. Japan has kept itself isolated for generations, but now foreigners are clamoring to be allowed in, and given trading rights. And Kazunomiya finds her own future in question, when she learns that her betrothal to a prince she has known since childhood may be broken so that her half-brother, the Emperor, can make an alliance by marrying her off to the young man that will be the next shogun of Japan.

I recommend this new addition to the Royal Diaries to all fans of the series. I enjoyed learning about what life was like for a princess of Japan during an era of great change. I had never heard of Kazunomiya before I learned of this book, but I found her life fascinating.

12-year-old Princess Kazunomiya, the half-sister of the current emperor of Japan, lives a very common life of a person of royal lineage. She has luxery and respect, but shes not much more than a prisoner behind the palace walls. She is never allowed to leave, unless for official state events or to pray in the temple. Her life is generally very monotonous and everyday is similar to the next. However Kazunomiya is living in a time of great change for her country of Japan, a time in which her own life will also be affected by the changes of the political landscape. Japan is becoming more open to foreigners and many are flocking in eager to trade and make money. Different alliances are being made and soon Kazunomiya finds her future in question because of political calculations.

Kazunomiya comes off as a likeable character. Her confusion over the circumstances of her country are understandable. I'm Asian American so I was really looking forward to reading morea about the Japanese culture. I recommend this book to all fans of the series.

12 year old, Kazunomiya is a virtual prisoner living in luxury behind the vast walls of the Japanese Palace.She is born in the year of the fire horse, which is a bad omen, especially when her father died after her birth, so they made her elder her age by one year.Kazunomiya, who lives her methodical life behind the palace walls, is going to find a new change in her life.

Paled skin people called, Americans are appearing at the Japanese boundaries and accepting trading rights from the Japanese.It is at this time too that Kazunomiya learns that her prince, she had known all her life was not going to marry her.Her half-brother the Emperor, wants her to marry the young Shogun of Japan, who is pathetic and stupid.Kathryn Lasky has created a beautiful character within the pages of this book, I sincerely congratulate her!

Hello there.I absoloutly loved this book. I think it should be a movie it was that good. Learing about Kazunomya was great. I love the way Katheryn Lasky included so much! This is her best book I've read. This book is about a young girl who goes through many obstacles. She is engaged to Arisugawa and falls in love with him. Then later has to marry another person! This is a grat book for anyone to read.

Kazunomiya lead an interesting life. Being born in the year of the fire horse and shortly after her dear fathers death made Princess Kazunomiya unlucky for it is a bad omen to be born in the year of the fire horse.Kazunomiya lived in hardship as the Japanese royal kept on changing her birthday and moving her away from her husband to be.When they move Kazunomiya away from her handsome husband to be and force her to marry the ugly shogun of Japan,Kazunomiya sees red.This is one of the best books in the Royal Diaries series,written by the best,interesting and most accurate Royal Diary author,Kathryn Lasky.

Kazunomiya: Prisoner of Heaven, is part of the historical fiction Royal Diaries series. The author, Kathryn Lasky, has written numerous other books for children and adults. It is best suited for girls between the ages of nine and fourteen; it is bound to awaken a young girl's dreams of being a princess. The purpose of this diary is to present the life of a Japanese princess in such a way as to hold the interest of a young person.

The main conflict throughout the diary is finding out who Kazunomiya is going to marry. She was originally betrothed to a prince, with whom she fell in love. But she is then forced to marry a man with higher status, though she wants to be no more than his friend.

Lasky did a great deal of research to make this book as close as possible to the real story of Kazunomiya. The diary is supplemented to enhance the reader's understanding. A brief historical note gives a condensed presentation of the situation in Japan at Kazunomiya's time. A family tree helps the reader remember who each character is and how they are all related. There are a few photographs with notes, which help the reader to visualize the events in the story. A glossary of Japanese words makes it possible for the story to be spiced with Japanese terms without confusing the reader.

This diary is supposed to be written by a Japanese princess, but the style sounds like that of an English monarch. The word `shall' is used innumerable times. The style is pompous and wordy, and many sentences are either very long or fragmentary. Though this gives a deceptive view of the Japanese mindset, I think Lasky's style is great for telling the story of a Japanese princess to a young Western audience.

Reviewed by Candace Smith for Flamingnet Book Reviews.

For more preteen, teen and young adult book reviews and recommendations, please visit www.flamingnet.com.

When I first saw this book in the library, I was skeptical. Most of the new Royal Diaries books haven't been that great lately, but I checked it out anyway.
I was shocked! This book is so good! The author, Kathryn Lasky, has once again written a diary that I believe is bound to be a best-selling novel.
I won't go into the details of the story, since most other reviewers do, but I will say, this has everything. Romance (but not too much), treachery, friendship, sorrow and happy times.
A must read!

Kazunomiya is a princess of Japan during the time when the emperor became a nominal power while the shogun retained all real control over the country. I knew very little about this time period, so it was a great introduction to it.

I have always been a fan of Dear America, and this book did not disappoint! I decided to read it last summer because I have been trying to read all the books I had not read when I was in middle and high school (I am currently in college). I ended up reading the book in one evening because every time I put it down, I came back and started reading again. Kathryn Lasky (who I adore as an author!) draws the reader into this ficitional diary of a real princess as if it were written by the girl herself. As a reader, I found myself becoming attached to the character - which is what every good book of this nature should do!

I found nothing boresome about the book, and it has quickly risen to be one of my favorite books. Out of the Royal Diaries series, it is my second favorite, beat out only by Sondok.

Seeing as I am a junior in college, I find it a little irksome that people label these "kids' books" and assume they're on par with the American Girls books (which I grew up on, by the way - but would not be so enthralled by now). Many of the Dear America series books have a relatively high reading level (the average 12-year-old would struggle tremedously, I'll leave it at that), and the content of others is best grasped by older readers - at least older teens.

Regardless, I love how Dear America, over the years, has made me thirst for history so much. Once I read a good book, I want to learn as much about the subject as I possibly can, so these books in my life have inspired many hours in the library over the years!

I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a book that shares some history of a time period unknown to many, although I do believe females (especially teens and a little older) will get the most out of it - considering that is the target audience.

Kazunomiya is a nonfiction book by Kathryn Lasky. There are seventeen books in The Royal Diaries series, not all of the books are written by Kathryn Lasky. every book is based on a true story about a princess. In the back of each book there is a small glossary containing non-English words used in throughout the story.

Kazunomiya is about a Japanese princess living in Japan in 1858. Her parents have changed her birthday many times to make her an eligible bride for a shogun. A Shogun is "barbarian-expelling warlord, most powerful man in feudal Japan." When Princess Kazunomiya first meets the shogun she hates him and thinks he an idiot. He doesn't mind that she feels this way because he has someone has captured his heart. What readers will love about this book is that they will get a sense of what life was like for a Japanese princess over one hundred fifty years ago.

In this book you will find that Kathryn Laskey puts so much voice into her books, and that really helps make you want to read more. Kathryn Lackey has impeccable word choice and helps you really keep your nose in her book. Her sentence fluency is like a river and sails smoothly. Kathryn Lasky has written the story of Kazunomiya through the pages of a diary. Life for a 12- year old girl is described in great detail through the daily entries of the princesses journal. The glossary is very helpful in understanding the Japanese language and the history of it's culture. The illustrations are actual black and white photographs.

This book was very interesting by teaching me lots of facts about the princess and the Japanese lifestyle. Kazunomiya may not appeal to people who enjoy books about fantasy and science -fiction because this book is a true story about a royal Japanese. It is not a make-believe story so it may not keep their attention. This book is recommended for children ages 9 and up.

Kazunomiya, Prisoner of Heaven / 0-439-16485-0

In a sense, most of the princesses in the Princess Diary series are prisoners in one form or other, as they are maneuvered in and out of political marriages and, in some cases (such as young Elizabeth of the Tudors) as they are maneuvered in and out of actual prisons. Kazunomiya herself dwells in a prison, albeit a lovely gilded one.

The year is 1858, and Japan is in a turmoil as investors from America have arrived on their shores and have threatened and bribed the shogun of Edo into a treaty to open Japan's shores to these men. The Emperor is furious at this breach of tradition, but he has no real power over the shoguns and is largely a figurehead in politics, a ceremonial god that does not involve himself in the messy business of treaties. In order to move away from a position of ceremonial weakness to a position of political strength, the Emperor breaks Kazunomiya's long-standing engagement with her true love - a prince of royal blood - to engage her to the next shogun. Kazunomiya is horrified at this turn of events and dreads becoming a political puppet for her brother to use.

With the help of her mother and aunt, Kazunomiya attempts to assert a little of her independence by circumventing the Empresses Mother's attempts to wrest control of Kazunomiya away from her birth mother. Kazunomiya also begins to meet secretly with her true love, promising that they will be together in the next life if not this one. Bravely, she strikes up a friendship with her intended, the young shogun, and they agree to be friends forever, even if they are forced to marry one another. In this way, does Kazunomiya try to survive within her prison, with kindness, bravely, and a samurai spirit.

Although this book is very short (not quite reaching 150 pages), and starts off fairly slow with descriptions of the Japanese court and the ceremonial poems that they send to one another throughout the day, the novel picks up the pace rapidly and grips the reader with concern for Kazunomiya's plight and whether she will be found out during her supervised, yet clandestine meetings with her soul mate. I enjoyed this novel, and recommend it to both children and adults alike, as an enjoyable coming-of-age tale, set against the fascinating backdrop of Kazunomiya's unique culture.

~ Ana Mardoll