Hiroshima

Hiroshima
Yep, Laurence
Scholastic Inc. NY,NY (1995)
Realistic fiction, Multicultural
2-4

Sachi is a twelve year old girl that lived in Hiroshima Japan in 1945. Sachi and her older sister Riko are effected greatly by the war. They both had to work at such young ages to support the war. Sachi worked with a crew of children that that tried to clean up the wreckage from American bombings. and Riko answered phones at an army headquarter. Only very young children were allowed to simply play. While the two girls are at work a B-29 bomber plane named the Enola Gay flown by Colonel Tibbets is heading toward Hiroshima. The Enola Gay is carrying a 8900 pound nuclear bomb. The bomb is dropped on Hiroshima and life there changed forever. There was massive destruction. Riko is killed instantly and Sachi suffered terrible burns that scarred her and immobilized her arm. Sachi's mother found her lying among a pile of dead and alive children outside a hospital. Sachi did not come out of her house for three years because she was ashamed of her scars and she did not want to be made fun of. Sachi is chosen to become one of the Hiroshima Maidens which were a group of girls that were sent to the U.S. to receive free operations and re constructive surgeries. Sachi undergoes many painful surgeries but she regains the use of her arm and her scars are greatly reduced. Sachi was among the only group of girls sent to the U.S. because many Japaneses people believed that the us should give money to be split by all of the people in Hiroshima. Hospitals are built in Japan to help people injured from the bomb. The author tells us that people are continuing to suffer and die from the effects of radiation from the bomb. He also tells us that sachi is a composite of several children who traveled to theU.S. for treatment.

This book emphasizes terrible thing our country did to the people of Hiroshima. This book is so sad. I felt sick when I thought about the pain Sachi must have gone through along with so many others. I am glad that Yep continually emphasized the lasting effects of our decision to drop the bomb. He said many times that people are still dying from the bomb. I think that everyone, not only children, should read this book so they can understand why we should never ever set off another nuclear tiomes. It seems that we are constantly in political unrest. For this reason, I want to share this book to my students and have them reflect through poetry how this book made them feel. I think that poetry speaks strait from the heart.