Rhoda Blumberg

In 1853, few Japanese people knew that a country called America even existed. For centuries, Japan had isolated itself from the outside world by refusing to trade with other countries and even refusing to help shipwrecked sailors, foreign or Japanese. The country's people still lived under a feudal system like that of Europe in the Middle Ages. But everything began to change when American Commodore Perry and his troops sailed to the Land of the Rising Sun, bringing with them new science and technology, and a new way of life.

Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun

Leda Blumberg

Simon and Schuster's Book of Facts and Fallacies

Describes the emigration of people from the East Coast of the United States and from foreign countries to California to pursue the dream of discovering gold.

The Great American Gold Rush

An account of the historic adventures and achievements of the great British explorer and discoverer of Australia, Hawaii, and other Pacific Ocean lands and peoples.

The Remarkable Voyages of Captain Cook

Any person who leaves the country to go to another and later returns will be put to death. This was the law in Japan in the early 1800s. When fourteen-year-old Manjiro, working on a fishing boat to help support his family, was shipwrecked three hundred miles away from his homeland, he was heartbroken to think that he would never again be able to go home. So when an American whaling boat rescued him, Manjiro decided to do what no other Japanese person had ever done: He went to America, where he received an education and took part in events that eventually made him a hero in the Land of the Rising Sun.

The True Adventures of a Japanese Boy

Shipwrecked!

In 1841, rescued by an American whaler after a terrible shipwreck left him and his companions castaways on a remote island, Manjiro learned new ways when he became the first Japanese person to set foot in the United States.

Shipwrecked

Discusses the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and the political maneuverings of Napoleon and Jefferson that made it possible.

Rhoda Blumberg

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