McCully, Emily Arnold. Manjiro: The Boy Who Risked His Life for Two Countries. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-374-34792-5.
Author and Illustrator website: http://www.emilyarnoldmccully.com/
Media: Pastel watercolors
Award: Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year;
NCSS-CBC Notable Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies.
Curricular Connection: California History / Social Science, Grade 5, California Standard: 5.8: Students discuss immigration to America from 1789 to the mid-1800s focusing on the impact of economic incentives, consequences of the physical and political geography, and transportation systems.
Annotation: True story of a young, shipwrecked Japanese boy brought to America who learned to adapt to his new life while working towards finding a way back home to Japan.
Personal Reaction:
This inspirational tale follows a boy who is one of the few Japanese citizens to travel outside of the country during the Tokugawa Shogunate’s period of enforced isolationism. The advertised penalty for leaving the country is death. Manjiro’s travels are unintentional; his only plan is to earn income for his family. He manages to gain employment on a fishing boat and is then and rescued by an American whaling ship. Manjiro is taken to Massachusetts and raised and educated as a member of the ship’s captain’s family. Manjiro’s new life is perhaps richer in food than his life in Japan, but it is more challenging due to his immigrant status. Manjiro is teased and misses his biological family. Nine years later, Manjiro’s wish comes true after he saves enough money for his own boat, only to be imprisoned and questioned for seven months by suspicious Japanese officials fearful of an American invasion. Manjiro’s story made me consider life for American immigrants during all of our country’s young history; many immigrants have faced financial, cultural, and language hardships. Immigration to this country continues; the countries of origin and languages vary today, but there is still much to learn from considering an immigrant’s perspective. McCully’s “Author’s Note” provides a brief summary of the rest of Manjiro’s life and his role in both his countries’ histories, including his published account of his life in America, his role as advisor to the Japanese government with American traders and his trip back to the U.S. in the first diplomatic delegation Japan sent West. An illustrated map of his travels lies above the note and adds further context to his travel and life.
