Delightful throwback of a book, like something I would have read in the fifties--I mean, if I'd been alive in the fifties, so, like a soft, faded, library-bound hardcover I would have taken out in the eighties, only to see it disappear a couple of years later when everything was modernized.

Not to say that it is too old-fashioned. I think this book is good enough and fast-paced enough to be interesting to modern children. I know kids in my classes would have enjoyed it if they'd been forced to read it.

Illustrations are simple and perfect for the book, some drawn by the subject and some drawn by a period Japanese artist. So pleased the publisher let them get away with that.

The Newbery canon is full of books about sailing and I'd be happy to see this one join the ranks.

It does have one of the dumber historical notes I've seen. I accepted while I was reading it that some kind of author's note would not be out of place--there's all this complex nautical and cultural stuff. I actually really liked the "Environmental Note" about the whales and albatrosses; it's short and interesting and well-written, and probably let the author feel like she didn't have to include a Green Message within the pages of the book, which would have been out of place. But the main historical note is pretty much just a summary of the book, since the author seems to have done a great job of including real events and people. I don't think I needed to know that two minor characters were made up, and I think why she included them is pretty obvious without being stated. Why not just say "With the exception of Jolly and Tom, this book is based on the real life of Manjiro"? Why, authors and editors and publishers, why?