The Book of Heroes

Reads L to R (Western Style).
When her brother Hiroki disappears after a violent altercation with bullies, Yuriko finds a magical book in his room. She learns that Hiroki has been possessed by The Book of Heroes, and that only she can save him. With the help of the monk Sky, the dictionary-mouse Aju, and the mysterious Man of Ash, Yuriko has to solve the mystery of her vanished brother and save the world from the evil King in Yellow.

Miyuki Miyabe's debut story, “Warera ga rinjin no hanzai” (Our neighbor’s crime), won a new writer award in 1987, and since that time, she has become one of Japan's most popular and best-selling authors. Miyabe's fantasy novel Brave Story won the Batchelder Award for best children's book in translation from the American Library Association in 2007. The Gate of Sorrows is an adult novel in the same universe as The Book of Heroes (Haikasoru, 2010). Her other works available in English include All She Was Worth, Cross Fire, The Sleeping Dragon, Apparitions, ICO: Castle in the Mist, and more.