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Booktalking Colorado Full Record:
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Title: |
The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn |
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Author: |
Hoobler, Dorothy |
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Date Published: |
1999 |
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Genre: |
Mystery |
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Grade Level: |
5 - 8 |
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Booktalker: |
Bonnie Phinney |
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Booktalk:
14-year old Seikei longs to be a Samurai. He’s read all about it, he knows what it means, he knows what it takes. But, unfortunately for Seikei, he is the son of a tea merchant and in 18th century Japan, he can never hope to attain his dream. A merchant he will be – whether suited to the task or not.
Disheartened, he accompanies his father on a business trip to Edo, where the Shogun lives, traveling on the world’s busiest highway – the Tokaido Road. They take shelter one night at the Tokaido Inn. Here he meets the cruel and oafish Samurai, Lord Hakuseki, not to mention a beautiful girl. When a precious Ruby intended for the shogun is stolen that night from Hakuseki, the young girl stands accused. Seikei risks his life by speaking out in her defense. All because that night he had seen a ghost with the jewel
Impressed by the boy’s bravery, if not completely convinced by his ghost story, Judge Ooka (the famous samurai magistrate), enlists Seikei’s aid in solving the mystery of the missing jewel. Unfortunately, this sets Seikei on a dangerous path that takes him backstage at a Kabuki Theater where he meets a mysterious actor.
The judge tells Seikei to follow the “right path,” but with little direction, he never knows exactly what the right path really is. More often, he feels he’s taken the wrong path.
The judge, meanwhile, remains a steady presence, urging Seikei to observe and reason out the motive for the crime by himself. More than once, Seikei fears for his life and wonders if he is truly acting in the honorable way. Can the son of a merchant prove himself worthy, to the Judge, and even to the Shogun himself?
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