Kazunomiya: Prisoner of Heaven

For my third book I take a little break from the original Dear America series to work on the sub-series of The Royal Diaries. This sub-series highlights royal girls from various countries and time periods.

Kazunomiya: Prisoner of Heaven is about the Imperial Princess Kazunomiya who lived in the last 1800s. They novel starts off with diary entries from this young girl of twelve that throws the reader right into the Japanese culture of the Emperor's court. Slowly through the book the reader gains an insight of what Japan was like at this time period and how the "royal" family functioned. Since, Kazunomiya is royal she is said to have descended from the Shinto sun goddess. Unfortunately, Kazunomiya is very tied down by the ways of the court and becomes a "puppet" in political affairs. This includes the changing of her birthday as well as the controversy over whether she will marry the man she was betrothed to or the next Shogun of Japan. Thus, the author fashioned the fitting title of Prisoner of Heaven for this young girl's diary.

I found this novel to be quite intriguing because I do not know much of Japanese culture or history. I did find it a little hard to get into though because from the start you are thrown into Kazunomiya's world and though she offers some explanations you are left to figure out the inner workings of society much on your own. This does become easier at you read along though and the glossary of Japanese words as well as the Historical Note at the back of the book are invaluable for gaining the full experience from this novel.

Here is some more information on the book for those of you who are interested:

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Inc. (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439164850