Pacific+Crossing

__Pacific Crossing__ is a book about two boys named Tony and Lincoln. They are chosen by their principal to go to Japan for a foreign exchange student program. When they get there, they meet their families and go to their houses. Lincoln meets a boy named Mitsuo who is also 14 like him. They become good friends, and Lincoln starts going to Kempo practices. Lincoln and Mitsuo hang out a lot and keep having lots of fun together. Lincoln and Tony decide to make a Mexican meal for their families, but they make all the food wrong. It tasted bad because they didn't have any of the right things. Then Mitsuo's Dad sends them to Tokyo to find a note he left them, but it ends up being just a picture of a clown. When they get back Lincoln takes a Kempo test and gets a new belt. Then Lincoln has to leave, and he goes back to the United States with Tony.

I learned a lot about the culture in Japan. They do a lot of their farming by hand, they eat a lot of different food, and they dress different from us. Also, a lot of the people take a kind of martial arts, like karate, or kempo. A lot of the people don't know much about other cultures or people from other countries. I think this because they didn't know anything about Mexican food or understand English very well. -Dustin.

I thought this was a pretty good book. I learned a lot about the culture from this book, and it had a good plot. -Dustin.