Samurai Shortstop (Junior Library Guild Selection (Dial)) (Hardcover)

~ Alan M. Gratz (Author) "TOYO WATCHED carefully as his uncle prepared to kill himself..." (more)
Key Phrases: besuboru game, visiting daimyo, eta village, Wall of the Soul, Independence Hall, Mainstream Society (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up–It is 1890, and 16-year-old Toyo Shimada is uniquely poised to witness the clash of old and new ways in his native Tokyo. Emperor Meiji has instituted a series of radical reforms; one of them requires that all samurai hang up their swords. In the hypnotic opening scene, Toyo and his father assist as his Uncle Koji commits ritual suicide or seppuku. Toyo's father, Sotaro, is a scholarly samurai whose weapon has always been his ink brush, but he too has decided that he cannot live in this new Japan. He tells Toyo that once he has taught him the ways of bushido, or the warrior's code, he, too, will take his own life. Meanwhile, Toyo begins his studies at an elite high school where the hazing by the senior students makes the first-year students miserable. Eventually, the teen and his friends are able to stand up for themselves, and Toyo wins a place on the school's besuboro or baseball team. His lessons in bushido include meditation, balance, and swordplay, and Toyo finds in baseball a way to make the connection between both modern and ancient, mental and physical. Gratz's concluding notes offer more on the period as well as sources for more information. This well-written tale offers plenty of fascinating detail, a fast-paced story, and a fresh perspective on America's pastime. It should delight baseball fans and win a wide audience.–Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 8-11. Growing up in Tokyo in the 1890s, after the emperor outlawed the samurai tradition of his ancestors, Toyo was not trained in the old disciplines. He must find his own path between the old ways and the new ones, which are symbolized for Toyo by the sport he loves: baseball. In the riveting opening scene, Toyo watches his father help Toyo's beloved uncle Koji perform suppuku, asamurai ritual involving disembowelment and decapitation. Soon after this disturbing event, Toyo becomes a boarder at the most esteemed high school in Tokyo. His high hopes are tempered by a brutal hazing inflicted on the entering class, and the ongoing cruelty of the students in power. Under his father's tutelage, Toyo's growing understanding of traditional samurai arts enables him to grow in skill and self-discipline both on and off the playing field. An engaging protagonist in a harsh, difficult situation, Toyo must work to earn the respect of his father and his teammates, but he will have readers' sympathies from the beginning. Unfolding through the convincing portrayals of individuals in turmoil, the story culminates as most baseball novels do--in the big game. An appended author's note discusses Gratz's research and lists his sources. A memorable chronicle of boys' inhumanity to boys, and a testament to enduring values in a time of social change. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Dial; Later Printing edition (May 18, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803730756
• ISBN-13: 978-0803730755
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #708,953 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life Wins, June 16, 2006

By	Martha Bennett Stiles (Paris, KY USA) - See all my reviews

Alan Gratz's triumphant first YA, SAMURAI SHORTSTOP, opens on the narrator's description of watching his beloved uncle gut himself. Baseball and violence carry this impressively researched depiction of Meiji Japan, and of relationships, between young males, and between father and son. In this polished, always suspenseful story, son and father help one another mature.
Martha Bennett Stiles

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Burning Besuboru!!, February 28, 2007

A Kid's Review

Samurai Shortstop is about a 16-year old Japanese boy, Toyo. Right from the first sentence of the book it really grabs your attention. Toyo's uncle is preparing to commit sepukku. This is considered an honorable way to kill yourself in Japan. The story draws you into the life of Toyo and helps you to understand his relationship with his father and learning the art of bushido. He goes off to a private boarding school where he learns how to stand up for himself and fight off the seniors who are out to torture the first years. I liked this book because it combines the sport of baseball along with Toyo's high school experience in Japan. If you want to read a book that is hard to put down and will keep you intrigued until the very last page, then this is the book for you.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grand Slam!, July 15, 2006

By	Carol Collett "Carol Collett" (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What an amazing debut! Toyo's story grabbed me from the first page with his uncle's preparation for ritual suicide. I couldn't wait to get to the end of the book to see if Toyo could successfully apply bushido principles to baseball, to see if he and his father could bridge just a little of the gap between them, if he could ever forgive his uncle for leaving him.
But now I want more!
Bravo, Alan, bravo!