Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor's Story

A Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
A National Book Award Longlist Selection
Jane Addams Children's Book Award
Flora Stieglitz Straus Award
A Booklist Editor's Choice

“Magnetic and chilling in its simplicity.”—The New York Times Book Review

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. The paperback edition includes an afterword with updates on Sachiko’s legacy.