The Samurai's Tale

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Summary: An epic adventure of a young boy's life in Japan
Review: Imagine being a high ranked samurai's son until one day when all that changes. This is what happened to a kid named Murakami in this book. In one day he had lost his family, his name and his rank. Now he is known as Taro, a low ranked servant for Lord Akiuama. Now, he must work to raise his status and achieve his goal, to be a samurai. This book is action packed and full of surprises. We totally recommend this book to everyone who is in the sixth grade and above and enjoys reading about action, thrilling adventure, suspenseful romance and gruesome violence. We found this tale exciting for everyone to read and hope you will read it too.

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Summary: A young servant boy keeps his dream to be a samurai.
Review: In English class in 6th grade, our teacher lent us copies of The Samurai's Tale to read. Through the book, the orphan, Taro, has many different positions and jobs. He was a servant, helping a cook named Togan. With Togan, Taro learned many things, including to accept his position and be polite. Then he worked as a stable boy for Lord Akiyama and later became a messenger in Iida Caslte. Taro also has many adventures. He meets a ghost and even falls in love. We thought this book was really interesting, though in some parts it got a little boring. We recommend this book to people who know a little of Japan and who like historical fiction.

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Summary: The Samurai's Tale
Review: In the 7th grade we were asked to read the book The Samurai's Tale. It seemed so long and boring. And it was. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone because it was really bad. It had to many complicated names to understand and it didn't get to the point. You had to read so much just to even know were you were. There was no plot to the story it was all just scattered around. I like reading but this book was really bad and if someone asked me if they should read this book I would encourage them not to.

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Summary: Fun read for adults too!
Review: It's not just for kids, this is fun for adults who like a short book to read. It's an easy read also. I'm not going go into detail because you can get that with other reviews.
I got my copy few years ago at the Scholastic book fair at a school. I drive a bus so it was convienient to buy a book while waiting for students!
I was hooked at the first page. Tragedy opens a door for a orphan to become a great warrior. If you've watched many Akira Kurosawa or Toshiro Mifune fuedal Japan era movies you'll like this book, I picture the action as one of those movies...even in b&w...heheh...
go read it, it's cool.

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Summary: What I think........
Review: Just like the other person from Santa Rosa, California who I'm very close friends with I think that this book is terrible. I had to also read it for a 7th grade project and I could barely get through it. The only chapter that even kept my interest was chapter 1 when Murakami and Yone get taken. I also like reading, but this is definently something I would never want to read again. It was so bad that I fell asleep 5 times trying to get through chapter 13...I've never done that, well until I read this book. And the names in the book are long and hard to pronounce, such as Tsutsujigasaki. I'm sure if I took time out to sound it out I could get it, but I shouldn't have to do that, at least to that extent. This book just rambles on and on about nothing, it's so called "plot" is just scattered. I'll save some of ya' a whole lot of time by telling you....don't read this book. If you want to go read some good material read something written by Mildred D. Taylor! No offense to Eric Christian Haugaard.

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Summary: Samurais Tale
Review: My teacher had us raed a book called the 'Samurai's Tale'
The Samurai's Tale is a story about a boy who has his family die in front of him.He grows up in Iwamura castle and lives with the servant's cook.As he gains a new job he must face another death.This time its the death of Togan[THE SERVANTS COOK].The young boy gets a new name'taro'.Taro then later changes his name again to murakomi harotomo.The now older muakomi becomes a samurai.He falls in love with Aki-Hime.There is more blood and violence in the end and he never sheds one tear.He is one strong person.

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Summary: Little Taro
Review: The Samurai's Tale by Eric Christian Haugaard is a very vivid and realistic book that is an accurate description of a young boy with ambition to be a great samurai like his father. But then with two tragic deaths in a short period of time tarnishes and make unclear of his dreams. This boy is stripped of the things that mean the most to him giving him a hard way to go. The Samurai's Tale is not really a timeless classic but it has met my approval.I would recommend this book to just about anyone who likes a good satisfying book. I recommend this book because, while it is a first-person book, it also contains other things that are just good to know sometimes. This book really goes in depth some parts in cultural explanation. It tells talks about myths, prejudices and foods as well. I would also recommend this book because this also describes fears and feelings as they really are and not many books tell things as they are felt because a lot of things are embellished to seem better. The feeling that you have when you are going to do something that is right, but it would also benefit you, as this feeling is felt, it is written to perfection. This book is really for anyone who enjoys a good book that one can relate to. You really that you are there. No book is written to perfection, even while some may come close. This book has faults too. This book has no deep plot. Some may even say that this book has no order and tends to jump around a bit in terms of ideas and such, making it hard to understand even one idea. But it is this that makes this book so great. You feel such a greater sense of achievement after discovering what the book is talking about. This book really isn't hard to understand, when it goes to different topics there all have to do with the matter at hand. Samurai's Tale doesn't have a complex plot, true. But it doesn't really need one. If it had a plot so deep that you couldn't understand it off the bat, the you probably wouldn't want to read it. The story is basically about a boy with a dream. That's it. It so simple that any could relate to such a story.

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Summary: The Samurai's Tale
Review: The Samurai's Tale is a great book to read of you like books with a lot of detail. I liked this book because it told a story of a young boy who works hard to become a samurai even though both his parents were killed. This is a book that explains everything around him (Taro/Murakami Harutomo). So if you like books that cover samurais or your doing a report on the Japanese medieval period and you don't want to read a boring book buy this one.

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Summary: A teacher's idea that worked!
Review: The Samurai's Tale is a great novel for seventh graders to read. It is challenging with all the characters and changes in names. After reading the reviews of other seventh graders on this site, I decided I needed an enticing way to keep my students in the book. I combined an Interact unit called, "The Warlords of Japan," with the reading of the book. We also created a class timeline to follow the story. The game helped increase their comprehension of the book. It is a great book but not easy reading.

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Summary: A great book about Medieval Japan.
Review: The Samurai's Tale is about a boy named Taro who lives in Japan. His parents were killed when he was four and he was taken in by Lord Takeda Shingen's top general, Lord Akiyama. As he made his way through the servant ranks, he met many life-long friends who helped him to achieve his dream, to be a samurai. Through the book he has many adventures and experiences love, war, and despair. Two of us said that this was an exciting and adventurous book that takes you through medieval Japan. Another one of us said that this book describes the life and routines of samurais in feudal Japan. We recommend this book to historical fiction lovers. It's chock-full of action and adventure.