Japan and Samurai Warriors for Kids

Is your son like mine – interested in history and heroes that fight, quirky characters, and adventure? But how do you find books that are engaging for your children but don’t promote the sort of violence that we don’t want our children to embrace as the normal?

For younger children (probably over eight), you might like to try the books written by Australian author Sandy Fussell, set in ancient Japan and featuring Niya, a one legged, aspiring samurai warrior and his school mates, each of which has a disability of their own.

The children attend the only Samurai school that will accept their differences, run by the legendary samurai warrior Ki-Yaga, sensei of the Cockroach Ryu. In the first of the series, Samurai Warrior 1: The White Crane, the students of the Cockroach Ryu seek to prove themselves worthy of the title samurai warrior, by taking on the fierce Dragons Ryu at the Samurai Trainee Games.

My son tells me that the books are full of adventure, humour, and great descriptions of life in feudal Japan, and in the early weeks of grade six, he read the entire series over a few days. Now that he has started secondary school, I thought that he might find Sandy’s new book set in South America in the era of the Aztecs too young for him, but he consumed Jaguar Warrior in one day, even giving up TV so that he could read it. I think that this goes to show what a great story teller Sandy is. I found this review of her new book on a blog I subscribe to.

Sandy also has a great website for her Samurai kids books with lots facts about feudal Japan and interactive activities.

For older children, another series also featuring Japan and Samurai warriors is by Chris Bradford – Young Samurai, The Way of the Warrior. From the Young Samurai website:

August, 1611. Jack Fletcher is shipwrecked off the coast of Japan – his beloved father and the crew lie slaughtered by ninja pirates. Rescued by the legendary sword master Masamoto Takeshi, Jack's only hope is to become a samurai warrior. And so his training begins …

But life at the samurai school is a constant fight for survival. Even with his friend Akiko by his side, Jack is singled out by bullies and treated as an outcast. With courage in his heart and his sword held high, can Jack prove himself and face his deadliest rival yet?

I suggest this series is more suitable for older children as it does feature more explicit violence than the Sandy Fussell's Samurai Warrior series. However, my 12 year old son thought this was another “awesome” series.

Is it a sign of the times that when they are exposed to reality TV shows and movies that are aimed at their age group but which feature swords and guns that our children’s views on what is acceptable is different from ours?  The world has not changed. There are still wars and crime in our streets, but I feel that our children are more exposed to the real world than we were - in the newspapers and on the TV with reality TV shows, more explicit news items which they get to watch.  So to them, reading about it is just another part of life. They learn about war and conflict as part of history, so maybe we shouldn’t worry so much abut their literature as long as it is in context. I remember reading adult fiction when I was in secondary as I was ready for something a bit more “meaty” and I’m sure there were scenes that my parents probably thought I shouldn’t be reading.