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A review by kblincoln
The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn by Dorothy Hoobler, Thomas Hoobler
3.0
A 14 year old son of a tea merchant, Seikei, gets mixed up in a murder and a samurai feud in the Japan of the Shoguns.
Seikei dreams of the impossible; becoming a samurai though he is born into the merchant class. On the Tokaido road, he witnesses a robbery and is sent as a spy to a Kabuki troop by a samurai judge.
I enjoyed the fact that the historical details weren't jarringly wrong; although I had to suspend disbelief quite a lot that a) the Judge Ooka would just overlook his merchant class and give him a sword, wooden or not and b) Nobody but Seikei thought the acrobatic leaping around of a beggar on the road suspicious and c) Seikei's father would just let him go off by himself so easily.
This was an entertaining and very educational book (for middle schoolers). I would definitely recommend it to young boys of my acquaintance.
Seikei dreams of the impossible; becoming a samurai though he is born into the merchant class. On the Tokaido road, he witnesses a robbery and is sent as a spy to a Kabuki troop by a samurai judge.
I enjoyed the fact that the historical details weren't jarringly wrong; although I had to suspend disbelief quite a lot that a) the Judge Ooka would just overlook his merchant class and give him a sword, wooden or not and b) Nobody but Seikei thought the acrobatic leaping around of a beggar on the road suspicious and c) Seikei's father would just let him go off by himself so easily.
This was an entertaining and very educational book (for middle schoolers). I would definitely recommend it to young boys of my acquaintance.