Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor's Story

by Caren Stelson

This oral history, which is laid out like a larger format youth nonfiction history book (as opposed to a biography), gives students a lot of info for a single book. At the core of the book is the intimate story of a survivor of the Nagasaki nuclear bomb. Sachiko Yasui was six years old when the bomb fell and changed her life forever. For fifty years she was unable to speak in public about the events of that day.

Although this is a grim topic for dialectic age students, the text is powerful but sensitive. The grief, fear, and confusion are presented in a manner that honors the survivors and leaves no doubt as to the consequences of nuclear war. The book contains an abundance of maps and photographs (nothing overly graphic) that help young readers visualize what happened.

In addition to learning Sachiko’s survival story and her firsthand account of life in Japan in the decades after the bomb, there are also pages of text giving students additional information about things such as how the decision to drop the bomb was made and medical studies that followed the health of survivors.

As Sachiko watched friends and family die in the initial days after the bomb was dropped and in the years that followed, she began an emotional and mental journey towards finding peace—for herself and the world at large. This book follows her as she learned about Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., and absorbed their messages of conciliation and nonviolent protest. Because these messages played such a huge role in Sachiko’s recovery, readers of this book learn about the men who taught them.

Initially, I felt like this book veered off topic and it lowered my opinion of it. In retrospect, I think that adding all the extra info about Gandhi and MLK adds an important dimension to the story. Too often we hear about an event only to have it drop out of the news as soon as the next event happens. Many books would give Sachiko’s initial experiences—because they have the shock value—but then fail to tell the story of the long, less scintillating years of recovery. This book is a fantastic illustration for students as to the very human experience of living in the aftermath, of earning that title of survivor.

Nonfiction (oral history/general history)

117 pages

Published: 2016

by Carolrhoda Books/Lerner Publishing Group

Subject: Oral history of a nuclear bomb survivor and general history of events

Time Period: August, 1995 to present

Recommended for: Dialectic students

This wonderful book has garnered some high praise:

2017 Robert F. Sibert Honor Award for Information Books, ALSC
 2017 Bank Street College Best Children’s Books of the Year List
 2017 Bank Street College of Education Flora Stieglitz Straus Award
 2017 Notable Children's Books, ALSC
 2017-2018 ALA-CBC Reading Beyond List
 2016 American Library Association Notable Book
 2017 Booklist Top 10 Diverse Nonfiction for Youth
 2017 CCBC Choices
 2016 Cybils Award for Middle Grade Non-Fiction
 2016 Eureka! Nonfiction Children's Book Award
 2017 Jane Addams Children’s Book Award for books for older children
 2017 Minnesota Book Award finalist, Middle Grade Literature
 2016 Junior Library Guild selection
 2016 National Book Award Longlist, Young People's Literature
 2016 National Consortium for Teaching About Asia, Freeman Book Award,
           Honorable Mention, Young Adult/High School Literature
 2016 Nerdies: Long-Form Nonfiction
 2016 New York Public Library Best Books for Teens
 2017 Notable Books for a Global Society
 2017 Notable Social Studies Trade Books, NCSS, CBC
 2017 Orbis Pictus Award for Nonfiction, Recommended Book, NCTE