Hiroshima

Yep, Laurence. Hiroshima. New York, New York:  Scholastic, Inc., 1995.

This book follows the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. It's more of a novella then an actual novel, and incorporates nonfiction statistics with the fictional story of Sachi, a girl who survives the bombing. Yep provides facts about the planes that carried the bomb and the size of it, and gives a little background of why the bomb was dropped. He also gives statistics on the aftermath of the event: how many people died, how it affected the city, and what it meant for future wars between countries. Yep loosely follows the fictional Sachi's story. She and her sister, like all students, work to defend Japan against America, and the bomb drops while she is working. Her sister and father die and Sachi is left with extreme burns and loses movement in one arm. She ends up becoming part of a group called the Maidens that are flown to the U.S. and given surgeries for free. The themes of this book are the horrors of war, the atomic bomb in particular, and how it affects civilians.
This book was a very easy read- it would be good for 6th graders, probably too easy for 7th and 8th. There are no really graphic scenes and the language is not difficult at all. It is more nonfiction than fiction, Sachi's character is never really developed and the majority of the book is made up of information about the bombing, so I don't think it would appeal to students and I wouldn't choose to teach it. It would be a good book to suggest for independent reading during a World War II unit, or if you have to teach it you could use it as one of a few texts since it's relatively short.