I read this book once in high school for a report as a free choice. It turned out to a pleasure rather then work. It's a page turner for readers of all ages. It gives a much more presonafied look into the lives of samurai. A neat story of a orphans rise from rags to samurai with a historical story backing it. I read it again about a year ago and enjoyed it just as much as the first time!

Usually when you think about a samurai; you think of a great warrior, but not in this case. The Samurai's Tale by Erik Christian Hauguard is a story about a boy named Taro. At a young age Taro's family was killed. Lord Akiyama took Taro in and treated him like a son, although taro worked for him. Taro witnessed a lot of deaths in his life, but none as big as his friend Togan. Togan was killed trying to defend Taro. "Leave the boy alone!" Togan shouted as he protected Taro (Hauguard 26). I wouldn't recommend this book to readers because there's not much action for a samurai book
I wouldn't recommend this book, because its dull. At times when you think its going to get good, it doesn't. Like when Togan was killed I thought Taro was going to go crazy and become a solo warrior and fight for himself, but he didn't. Instead he went to his room and thought about it. Another interesting moment that I thought would spark something is when Jiro smacked the horse and Taro beat him up.
In the old Japan days you inherited your class from your parents, which would have meant taro should've been a samurai, but since his family was killed he had to do other jobs for Lord Akiyama to earn this job. The book hardly talked about Taro being a samurai. He was a messenger for most of the book, not a samurai and this is why the book should be called "The Messengers Tale". The title doesn't really fit the book. Its all about his journey.
The book overall has a good story to it. I think how Taro's family was killed right off the bat caught readers attentions quickly. The way the story was told, allowed you to picture everything as it was happening. This kept you off your seat wanting to know what was going to happen. I was like this when Togan was hiding in the rice shed and soldiers were just walking by not noticing him.
I don't recommend this book because it was dull, nothing extremely exciting happened and I don't really think it should be a samurai book, because there wasn't much action. If the book had more action scenes it would be a lot better.

This story displays a large cast. Being an ambitious young orphan, Taro hopes to follow his late father's footsteps and become a samurai. Fortunately, Taro has numerous mentors throughout his life, including a cook, a messenger and even a servant. While serving his lord as the distributor of rations Taro meets a young girl and immediately falls in love with her. This tale of a boy who struggles to achieve the highest military rank takes in a war torn Japan during the golden age of the samurai.
As the story progresses the reader follows the hero through his varied adventures. When a rival family kills his mother and siblings are killed, Taro is spared because of his bravery which is prominent throughout the story. He starts out a lowly cook's boy but later goes on to become a stable boy, messenger, and guardian / distributor of the armies rations. While Taro is the cook's helper, his mentor teaches him to be content with who he is and what he is doing as long as it is morally correct. However, Taro continues to strive to become a samurai.
(spoiler!!!)
Taro achieves his life goal. His name is changed. He engages in combat. the young man is very pleased with these knightly privileges. Sadly, his best friend dies in battle, and so Taro learns to respect life. After his lord is vanquished, Taro is reduced to rags , but when the story takes a final turn he forgets his sad state.
This is an enjoyable book. Being equally educational and pleasurable the reader is drawn into Taro's world. It is a typical life story with several subplots, making it hard to follow the main story line. Unfortunately, the reading is slow at times but mostly this story action-packed and not easy to put down.

I bought this for Alice, a 6-grader because she needs it for her homework. It turns out to be a very good and fascinating novel and Alice loves to read it.

Gang Chen, Author of Planting Design Illustrated

At first I was ambiguous on how the story was starting out but then everything began to unfold, and I was drawn into to the story, I saw myself not being able to put the book down. The reading level is very simple, but the imagery was fantastic. But in all and all It's a great story for all ages with a great message that even us as adults seem to forget.