about the book
It was December, 1938, when the first Uranium atom was split in two by being placed next to radioactive material.
The race to build the atomic bomb had begun.
In three different continents—Asia, Europe, and North America—teams of the world’s top scientists worked feverishly to figure out a way to harness the power of a split atom.
Meanwhile, teams of elite military specialists worked to sabotage and steal the other teams’ research. Soviet spies worked their way into England and America’s scientific community. In Norway, commandos worked to eliminate Nazi Germany’s heavy water factories.
And all the while, in Los Alamos, Arizona, a crack team was preparing to test their first workable nuclear bomb.
about the author
Steve Sheinkin used to write history text books. Now that part of his life is over, and he is writing history books people will voluntarily read, not because a teacher told them to do it!
Steve was born in Brooklyn, New York, and has lived in Mississippi and Colorado as well. Growing up, Steve’s favorite books were action and adventure stories, things with treasure searches and man-eating sharks. His favorite, though, was a historical book Mutiny on the Bounty, which was about a real mutiny that took place in the 1700s on a British ship. Also, baseball. Steve likes baseball.
Steve went to college at Syracuse University, then moved to Washington, D.C., and worked with the National Audubon Society—an environmental group. After this he and his brother moved to Austin, Texas, to try to become screenwriters. When that didn’t pan out, Steve moved back to Brooklyn in order to figure out how to make a living as a writer.
That is how he got his job editing and writing history text books. After a few years doing that, he had collected hundreds of historical stories in his head from the things he was reading, editing, and writing about, and decided he was going to turn them into books. Bomb: The Race to Build–and Steal–The World’s Most Dangerous Weapon is just the first of many!
Sources:
Author website
Author interview : The Hub/YALSA
Also by Steve Sheinkin:
The Port Chicago 50 : Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights. Roaring Brook Press. 2014.
Lincoln’s Grave Robbers. Scholastic. 2013.
The Notorious Benedict Arnold : A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, & Treachery. Flash Point. 2010.
The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey : A Graphic Novel of Jewish Wisdom and Wit in the Wild West. Jewish Lights Publishing. 2006.
read more!
The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages
In 1943 Dewey, a budding mechanical inventor, is left mostly on her own in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Her dad is a mathematician working on a top secret government gadget. Shunned because she would rather scrounge in the dump for discarded scientific stuff, she makes friends with Suze, another outcast and a big bully. As the project nears completion and tensions rise, the two must rely on each other.
Hiroshima : The Story of the First Atom Bomb by Clive A. Lawton
This book recounts the development and use of the first atomic bomb. It presents the basics of nuclear theory, the development of the first atomic bomb, the Manhattan Project, and a Who’s Who. It discusses World War II, describes the Enola Gay, explains the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and explores the aftermath of the explosions.
The Port Chicago 50 : Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights by Steve Sheinkin
In 1944 on the segregated naval base at California’s Port Chicago, African-American sailors were ordered to load ships with dangerous munitions. Their lack of formal training and a competitive work atmosphere caused an explosion that killed 300 and injured 400 more. Fifty survivors refused to return to the work after the disaster and were charged with mutiny. Learn how this tragedy brought about the end of segregation in America’s military.