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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSIn 1841, fourteen-year-old Manjiro is one of five Japanese fishermen swept off course by a fierce storm and stranded for months on a barren, bird-covered island far out at sea. When an American whaling ship spots them and sends boats to help, Manjiro must decide whether the foreign sailors are the demons his countrymen warned him about or something else entirely. As the only one willing to learn the strangers' language, Manjiro becomes a bridge between two worlds and soon faces an invitation that could change the course of his life: travel to America with the ship's captain, or stay behind and try to find a way home to Japan.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Heart of a Samurai
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about Heart of a Samurai. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book does an island look alive because thousands of birds cover its slopes?
✓ Answer
Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus
As they drift closer, the island seems to quiver and break apart. Sharp eyed Goemon realizes the shimmering is countless seabirds lifting up and settling down on the barren rock.
- First half
In what book is a horrible stench called "the heavenly smell of treasure"?
✓ Answer
Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus
Mr. Davis rows Manjiro out to a dead, rotting whale and insists the foul smell is treasure. Inside the stinking carcass is ambergris, a waxy lump used to make costly perfume and worth a fortune.
- First half
In what book does a boy keep falling off his horse into fields, streams, and mud puddles?
✓ Answer
Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus
Manjiro is a clumsy rider who tumbles off his horse everywhere, plopping into meadows and splatting into mud. One of these falls is how he first meets his American friend Terry.
- Second half
In what book does a girl say there is a crackle in the air, like lightning, near a certain boy?
✓ Answer
Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus
Hidden in the woods, Manjiro overhears Catherine telling her friends how she always knows when John Mung has been near. She even says she might marry him, until a friend reminds her that her parents would never allow it.
- Second half
In what book does a young man dive off a ship to chase a wounded sea turtle into the deep?
✓ Answer
Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus
When a giant turtle drifts up to the becalmed Franklin, the hungry crew wounds it and it dives. Manjiro leaps over the side with a knife and follows it down into the green depths for fresh meat.
- Near the end
In what book does a man learn that the boy he bought a parrot for has died of fever?
✓ Answer
Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus
When the Franklin returns, Manjiro asks the Whitfields where William Henry is, eager to give him the parrot. They gently tell him the boy died of fever while he was away, and the brightness goes out of the world for him.
