The Teahouse of the August Moon

by Vern Sneider

THE TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON was written in 1951 by Vern Sneider. It is a satire about how the military likes to Americanize the cultures it comes across. There is a good movie adapter that was done, but if you can find the book I highly recommend it, since it just adds the little details that movies just don’t have the capability of putting in. It is a fairly short book and suitable for teens as well as adults.

The story takes place on the island of Okinawa. An American soldier is charged with the duty of basically bringing civilization to the natives. This is done by implementing plan “B,” though I don’t remember anywhere them mentioning a plan “A.” Plan “B” is to build a school and educate the children. Only the natives of the town don’t want to have a school, they want to have a teahouse. The soldier is showered with gifts, including a geisha, and he slowly comes around to the idea that building a teahouse isn’t a bad thing. The villagers have all kinds of sneaky ways of convincing the soldiers to do what they want and in the end the teahouse is built. But that doesn’t solve all the problems.

You won’t find much information about the book online. The movie and the play are quite prevalent. As I mentioned earlier, if you get the chance to read the book, don’t pass it up. (I highly recommend another book by Vern Sneider called THE KING FROM ASHTABULA. It also deals with an island nation and their choice of government despite the Americans trying to meddle.) The movie is a fun family film that has some classic characters and even a few surprises.