Hiroshima by Laurence Yep
Bibliography: Yep, Lawrence. 1900. Hiroshima.
Scholastic: 1995.
ISBN: 9780590208338
Plot Summary: Hiroshima
is a short novella depicting the events surrounding the first atom bomb attempt
in Hiroshima, Japan during World War II on August 6, 1945. It follows the
character of twelve-year old Sachi in an attempt to show how the people of
Hiroshima were blindsided by the Enola Gay. The novella follows the before,
during, and aftermath of the bomb, focusing on Sachi's life in Japan, and then from
the United States when being treated for burns left by the devastating bomb. While
the book is fictional, it accurately depicts the events surrounding the bombing
of Hiroshima.
Critical Analysis: The novella follows the twelve year old
character of Sachi and the events and aftermath of the bombing that destroyed
the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Sachi is a young girl living in a world at war.
She is relatable to other children with her innocence and longing to feel safe
and secure. At points, she is not nervous about the Americans flying overheard,
but reluctantly wears an air-raid hood to ensure her safety from any blasts of
fires that may occur. She is portrayed as a child living in a war-torn area that
is fighting to survive, and is relatable. Her dress reflects the time period as
does the imagery that is described through the setting of the text. The plot of
the text is presented accurately and in logical order, following the events
surrounding August 6, 1945, which is the day the atom bomb was dropped, and
continues through the time in which the U.S. tries to strengthen ties by
helping burn victims. It is completely realistic and stays true to the time
period. The vivid and time-oriented setting is depicted in a way that allows
the reader to visualize the events, helping to create an accurate feel to the
text. The theme of war, peace, and prosperity run rampant through the text and
are timeless parallels to today's society. The style of the text reflects the
authors voice in a way that captures the time eloquently in a seamless story that
examines an important time in our nation's history. The novella is authentic
and the citations at the end of the text further validate the credibility of
the text with a true blending of fact and fiction which draws the reader's
interest.
Awards Received:
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None
Review Excerpts:
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From Publishers Weekly - Yep's
account of the bombing of Hiroshima and its devastating aftermath is at once
chilling and searing, hushed and thundering. Within a factual framework, the
author sets the fictional story of a girl named Sachi, allegedly a composite of
several young residents of the bombed city. On the morning of August 6, 1945,
12-year-old Sachi and her classmates pull on their pitifully inadequate air-raid
hoods when an alarm sounds, signifying the approach of an American bomber. They
and others feel, ironically, a deep sense of relief when the aircraft passes
by-the plane's mission, in fact, is to scout out the weather over Hiroshima; if
there are clouds, the Enola Gay will be directed to drop its atom bomb on
another city. But a single gap opens in the clouds directly over the target
site, and "the sunlight pours through the hole on to the city." This
is the last bit of brightness in Yep's story, which with haunting simplicity
describes the actual bombing: "There is a blinding light like a sun. There
is a boom like a giant drum. There is a terrible wind. Houses collapse like
boxes. Windows break everywhere. Broken glass swirls like angry insects."
Though Yep's spare, deliberate description of the bomb's consequences delivers
a brutal emotional punch-and though it is on the whole extremely well suited to
the target audience-his novella has some jarring stylistic elements. Broken
into brief chapters ("The Bomb," "The City," "The
Attack," "Destruction," "Peace?"), the narrative is
choppy. The text, for example, makes a hasty chronological jump from the
announcement that WWII is over to Sachi's experience as one of 25
"Hiroshima Maidens," who in 1955 traveled to the United States for
plastic surgery to correct disfiguring burns. And although expressing an
opinion is clearly the novelist's prerogative, it should be noted that the
story Yep relays is hardly balanced; witness the two simple sentences about the
Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, which make no mention of the resulting human
casualties: "Four years before, on December 7, 1941, Japanese planes
attacked American ships in Hawaii without warning. Caught by surprise, many
ships and planes were wrecked at the naval base, Pearl Harbor." Yet in
what is one of his tale's most haunting moments, Yep interjects the resonant
words of an American-the Enola Gay's copilot-who, surveying the destruction
just after the bomb has hit Hiroshima, scribbles a note to himself: "What
have we done?" This powerful chronicle ensures that what was done on that
awful day will remain in readers' memories for a very long time. Ages 8-11.
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From School Library Journal - Grade
4-6 Through a stacatto, present-tense narration that moves back and forth
between the experiences of a 12-year-old girl and the men on the Enola Gay,
Yep's novella tells the events of the day the first atomic bomb was dropped and
its aftermath. Sachi survives but is badly burned; her sister dies and her
soldier father is killed in action. For three years the girl spends most of her
time indoors, as newcomers to the city fear the scarred survivors. Then she
travels to America for plastic surgery, which enables her to take part in her
society again. She returns to Japan, hoping to help other victims. Yep ends
with two chapters on the destructive potential of nuclear warfare and on some
of the efforts being made toward disarmament. His words are powerful and
compelling, and the facts he presents make readers realize the horrors of that
day and its impact beyond. As a fictional character, Sachi never becomes much
more than a name, but even so, readers will be moved by her tale. Hiroshima has
a more adult format than Junko Morimoto's more personal My Hiroshima (Viking,
1990) or Toshi Maruki's Hiroshima No Pika (Lothrop, 1982), both of which tell
the story in pictures as well as in words.?Louise L. Sherman, Anna C. Scott
School, Leonia, NJ
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From Booklist
- Gr. 4^-7. In quiet, simple prose, Yep tells what
happens when the atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. He tells it in
short chapters in the present tense, switching from crewmen on the Enola Gay
to children in a Hiroshima classroom; then he describes the attack, the
mushroom cloud, and the destruction of the city; finally, he talks about the
aftermath, immediate and long term, including the arms race and the movement
for peace. One chapter explains the physics of the explosion and of radiation.
The facts are so dramatic and told with such controlled intensity that we
barely need the spare fictionalization about a young Hiroshima child who is
there when the bomb falls and who later comes to the U.S. for treatment (Yep
says in an afterword that she's a composite of several children). The account
is fair, non-hectoring, and totally devastating. Though accessible to
middle-grade readers, this will also interest older readers, who will find
nothing condescending in content or format. Fifty years later, the event is
still the focus of furious controversy (even the numbers are in dispute), and
this novella will start classroom discussion across the curriculum. There's a
bibliography for further reading.
Connections/ Activities:
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Students can research World War II.
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Students can create their own novella.
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Students can write and research about how the
war affected the people of Japan and the devastating effects on Hiroshima.
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Students can compare the novella to other texts
about Hiroshima.
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Students can examine the text's accuracy.
Selected other texts by Lawrence Yep
·
Dragonwings
– 978-0064400855
·
The Lost
Garden – 978-0688137014
·
The Dragon
Prince: A Chinese Beauty and the Beast Tale – 978-0064435185
·
Dragon’s
Gate - 978-0064404891
Related Texts:
·
Sadako and
the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr – 978-0142401132
·
Number the
Stars by Lois Lowry – 978-0547577098
·
A Boy at
War: A Novel of Pearl Harbor by Harry Mazer – 978-0689841606
·
Hiroshima
by John Hersey - 978-0679721031
Personal Connections:
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If I were a high school U.S. History teacher, I
would definitely have my students read this text when discussing World War II
because, it is a great example of historical fiction in which students can put
themselves in the position of the main character to see the devastating effects
of the atom bomb.
