Laurence Yep

Yep, L. (1995). Hiroshima. New York, NY: Schlastic. (Picture from Amazon.com)

Two fictional girls, Riko and Sachi, live in the historical time of World War II in Hiroshima, Japan. The two girls are not headed to a schoolhouse, instead Riko, 16, works at the army headquaters recording phone messages and Sachi, 12, works outside with her classmates helping to tear down houses to keep fires from spreading in case there is a bomb attack. Yep alternates between telling about the girls' lives and telling about the American planes that are headed for Hiroshima, the Straight Flush and the Enola Gay. The next few chapters describe the dropping of the atomic bomb and the chaos and horror that ensues on the ground. The author puts the reader inside the Enola Gay, hearing the conversations among the crew before and after the bombing occurs. The reader is also on the ground with the injured, frightened, and dead of Hiroshima. Only one of the sister emerges from the devastation of the bomb, but Sachi had terrible burns on her face, from which it will take years for her to recover. Laurence Yep includes statisical information about this infamous historical event with fictional character blended in, putting a face on the ugly side of war.

My father was drafted into World War II when he was twenty years old. He was always telling "army stories". The stories were about funny things that happened or about what military life was like, but he never told any stories about the bad side, the things that we don't want to think about as we go about our daily routines. This novella can be used to open up discussion about the ramifications of war and provide details about one of the dark times in American and Japanese history. I have many family members with a military background, some by choice and some by force, and I believe our nation should defend itself in the name of freedom; however, there are times in the midst of conflict that the reasons why get skewed and the battle, from Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is more about being a bully than about being free.

Laurence Yep biography and bibliography.

Also, check out the Hiroshima Peace Site.