about the book
Fifty years later, Sachiko Yasui could finally begin to speak about it. She spent 50 years processing the pain, the memories, the loss, and the sickness that came after August 9, 1945, the day “Fat Boy” was dropped on Nagasaki.
Sachiko was six years old on that day and lived a half a mile from the site where the bomb dropped. She had emerged from a cave that morning where she, her family, and neighbors were hiding from a threatened bombing raid. When it was over, some of the young kids in the cave asked if she wanted to play with them. Of course, she wanted to play! She played with them until 11:01 a.m.
The next seconds were unspeakable.
When she awoke several hours later, under a pile of rubble with a mouthful of ash, she would learn that more than just her playmates were gone.
Sachiko tells the incredible story of her survival, starting with her walk to safety and the immediate aftereffects of radiation sickness. Sachiko and her parents watched as three of her five siblings died from radiation sickness. Later, when she was finally well enough to return to school, she recalls the bullying from her peers because she was a hibakusha, a bomb survivor. Later in life, Sachiko contracted thyroid cancer (and incredibly survived that, too.)
Sachiko pressed on, day by day, and year by year. Most importantly during that time, she read. She learned of ways other than violence to solve problems. She learned of peacemakers—Ghandi, Helen Keller, Martin Luther King, Jr.—and took solace in their messages. Decades would pass before the words could come out.
And long before the words came, “Sachiko knew this: the world must never again see nuclear war.”
about the author
Educator, curriculum specialist, and author Caren Stelson spent many years traveling the world and telling the stories of the people she met to young people. But she believes that all those experiences were merely training for the trip and story that would change her life forever. In 2010, she travelled to Japan to meet and tell the story of Sachiko Yasui, a survivor of the Nagasaki bombing of 1945. She would continue to research the story and meet with Sachiko for the next four years. Sachiko : A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story is the result.
Besides suffering physical anguish as a direct result of the bombings, Sachiko endured years of mental anguish from PTSD, the loss of family members, and survivor’s guilt. But Sachiko was determined to use her suffering for good, dedicating her story to the promotion of peace in the world. “As a writer, I learned how much courage it takes to write a powerful story. At times, I wondered if I had enough. I kept saying to myself, if Sachiko had the courage to live her life, I could find the courage to listen to her story and write it down,” Caren says.
Caren grew up on the east coast and for a time lived in the Midwest as a young girl. She moved to Minneapolis 30 years ago, and has been living there ever since. She is married and has two grown children. Caren continues to write stories and believes that telling stories is a sure way to find peace, first within ourselves, and ultimately, in the world.
Sources:
Author website
Author interview: Publisher’s Weekly
Author interview: National Book Foundation
Book trailer: Sachiko
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