A New York Timesbestseller, Heart of a Samurai is "a terrific biographical novel" (Wall Street Journal), filled with international adventure, a look at cultural differences, and both American and Japanese history. A Newbery Medal Winner *An NPR Backseat Book Club pick This award-winning adventure novel will thrill and enrich every young reader who picks it up. In 1841, a Japanese fishing vessel sinks. Its crew is forced to swim to a small, unknown island, where they are rescued by a passing American ship. Japan's borders remain closed to all Western nations, so the crew sets off to America, learning English on the way. Manjiro, a 14-year-old boy, is curious and eager to learn everything he can about this new culture. Eventually the captain adopts Manjiro and takes him to his home in New England. The boy lives there for some time and then heads to San Francisco to pan for gold. After many years, he makes it back to Japan, only to be imprisoned as an outsider.