Samurai Kids 6: Golden Bat

Sandy Fussell (author)

Rhian Nest James (illustrator)

Walker Books, Australia: May2011; 265pp

ISBN: 9781921529474

Genres: adventure, historical fiction

Issues: change, ethics, friendship, loyalty, teamwork, values

Still on their grand adventure tour outside Japan, the Samurai Kids of the Cockroach Ryu find themselves in yet another tricky position. An infamous pirate captain has taken Mikko hostage to force Ki-Yaga and his pupils to rescue his young nephew.

The samurai students are confident that, with Ki-Yaga's help, they will easily rescue young Yuri in time. With their teacher's guidance and the many skills they've learnt in their travels, the small team have already achieved amazing things. But this time it's different. Sensei is badly injured by a wild bear and the students must find their own path. Tensions in the group bring new challenges and threats. Will they regain their unity in time to save Mikko and Yuri? Will Sensai recover? And will Taji regain his sight?

Sandy Fussell's highly successful Samurai Kids series is packed with exciting adventures but really it is all about character. Readers will aspire to be like the Samurai students, to find their own strengths, overcome their own weaknesses. In The Golden Bat Fussell challenges readers to recognise and value their own talents, an inspirational concept that is cleverly and imaginatively developed throughout the series.

Rhian Nest James' illustrations are as remarkable as always, bringing to life events and characters from Fussell's writing and weaving them back into the story, feeding readers' visualisations of the world the Samurai Kids inhabit. From the threatening shark (p55) to the angry country magistrate (p73), James' images project the many threats and personalities the main characters encounter. Few novel illustrations show the same care and attention to detail as picture books but Rhian Nest James' work does, both respecting and enriching the writing and giving readers insight into and interaction with the Samurai Kids' world.