"What happened to me must never happen to you."--Sachiko Yasui
August 9, 1945, began like any other day for six-year-old Sachiko. Her
country was at war, she didn't have enough to eat. At 11:01 a.m., she
was playing outdoors with four other children. Moments later, those
children were all dead. An atomic bomb had exploded just half a mile
away.
In the days and months that followed, Sachiko lost family members, her
hair fell out, she woke screaming in the night. When she was finally
well enough to start school, other children bullied her. Through it all,
she sought to understand what had happened, finding strength in the
writings of Helen Keller, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.
Based on extensive interviews with Sachiko Yasui, Caren Stelson shares
the true story of a young girl who survived the atomic bomb and
chronicles her long journey to find peace. Sachiko offers readers a
remarkable new perspective on the final moments of World War II--and
their aftermath.
This striking work of narrative nonfiction tells the true story of
six-year-old Sachiko Yasui's survival of the Nagasaki atomic bomb on
August 9, 1945, and the heartbreaking and lifelong aftermath. Having
conducted extensive interviews with Sachiko Yasui, Caren Stelson
chronicles Sachiko's trauma and loss as well as her long journey to find
peace. This book offers readers a remarkable new perspective on the
final moments of World War II and their aftermath.
"Magnetic and chilling in its simplicity."--The New York Times Book
Review
"A story of staggering hardship and extraordinary resolve. . . .
Luminous, enduring, utterly necessary."--starred, Booklist
"An essential addition to World War II biography collections for middle
school students."--starred, School Library Journal
"Caren Stelson tells Yasui's story with warmth [and]
sympathy."--The Washington Post
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLIST
