Part I: Bibliographic information
Type: Nonfiction
Title: Bomb: The Race to build and Steal the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon
Writer: Steve Sheinkin
Copyright Date: 20102
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press.
ISBN: 9781596434875
Genre/subgenre: Nonfiction/historical,war
Interest Age: 12 to 21
Reading Level: Upper Grades (UG 9-12)
Pages: 266
Awards: Newbery Honor Book, 2013
Sibert Medal, 2013
YALSA Nonfiction Award Winner, 2013
National Book Award Finalist, 2013
Part I: Reader’s Annotation, Plot Summary, Critical Evaluation
Reader’s Annotation -- American-based scientists race to beat the Nazis to a viable atomic bomb while keeping the technology from the Soviet. The story takes us from the physics classrooms at Berkeley to the intelligence battles that surround World War II in a thrilling adventure through one of the most fascinating periods in world history.
Plot Summary -- The story beings through the eye’s of a young Robert Oppenheimer, who is so caught up with physics that he leaves a date stranded in a car as he walks home. He goes on to head the theoretical physics program at UC Berkeley and is eventually approach to join the national uranium research council. One the East Coast several Hungary graduate students had approached Einstein with information about the discovery in Germany that the atom could be split using uranium. They urged Einstein to use his fame to convince Roosevelt to beat the Nazi’s to the development of a bomb. Meanwhile, the Soviets had recruited spies within the United States to work contacts within industry and research. The backdrop to these developments is the Nazi expansion across Europe and the growing threat that Hitler may get the bomb first.
A plan to infiltrate Nazi-occupied Norway becomes part of the increasingly complex plot. Special-trained Norwegian expatriates are assigned to re-enter the country and destroy a ‘heavy water’ plant in cooperation with British commandos. The little understood that the mission was key to slowing the German atomic efforts. The drop is miscalculated, however; and they are stuck remotely with their 12 equipment crates. Still worse the mission goes awry and Nazi’s kill most of the commandos and capture important information about the mission’s goal -- 34 British soldiers die and German’s guard the plant with heightened security.
Back in America, Oppenheimer is chosen to lead the top-secret Uranium Committee in spite of his communist leanings. Meanwhile the Soviets realize he’s a prime target for their effort to get more information about the atomic efforts. But Oppenheimer does not agree to work with them -- though he fails to tell the U.S. Army that he had been approach. The project lands at New Mexico’s Los Alamos, the location of an atomic research facility to day. The Los Alamos site centralizes the project that sets out to recruit the top scientists throughout the country. One of these men is a young Richard Feynman -- who at first refuses but then realizes the ramifications and disappears to New Mexico, where scientists lived in very basic conditions while they pursued the world’s most dangerous weapon.
As the war ravages in both the Pacific and European theatre, the stakes increase and paranoia about Oppenheimer’s connections to communist agents. The intrigue continues and we are kept seeking the outcome to this fascinating tale of an important time in American History.
Critical Evaluation -- The multi-dimensional plot in which parallel efforts around the world are intertwined makes this a fascinating read. Sheinkin has recreated the developments including eyewitness accounts of the daily activities and thoughts of those involved, ranging from Einstein to Churchill and a whole cadres of lesser known individuals whose fates would cross as part of the effort to beat the Nazis to the bomb.
Another reason this historical account stands out is that it utilizes intrigue to drive the reader to want to know what happens next. The real-world espionage that was the backdrop for this era is fascinating. We meet many of these characters in Bomb -- and Sheinkin gives adequate detail of their world to keep the reader interested. If anything, it’s complexity would seem to work against its appeal to younger readers. But, in fact, Sheinkin manages the puzzle masterly though what was no doubt an enormous research effort.
Part III: Author Info
A brief bio from teen reads has this to say: “Steve Sheinkin is the award-winning author of several fascinating books on American history, most recently The Notorious Benedict Arnold, which won the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults, the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for nonfiction, and received three starred reviews. He lives in Saratoga Springs, NY” (Biography, 2013).
I will add that he is rapidly becoming a superstar in literary circles. The success of Bomb and prior to that The Notorious Benedict Arnold has solidified his place as one of the most talented writers of his time. He adds on his website that as a kid his favorite reads were “sea stories, searches for buried treasures, sharks eating people, that kind of thing” (Sheinkin, 2012).
Part IV: Curriculum Ties, Diversity, Booktalk Ideas, Challenge Issues
Curriculum Ties, if any -- This work would be a perfect compliment to fulfill the new Core requirement for nonfiction reading that crosses into area where reading is not traditionally assigned. It’s short enough to be part of a semester read and completely relevant to exploring how science works and why its role in our society has been so important.
Diversity of Cultures -- The race to build the Bomb included scientists from many cultural backgrounds. Sheinkin does a good job weaving these variety of minor characters from around the world who contributed to the Americans being the first to build a bomb. It was not an American effort so much as an effort of those that wanted to make certain Hitler was not the first.
Booktalking Ideas -- The ethics of nuclear power have become increasingly heated after the accident at Fukushima. How do we weigh the dangers versus the benefits of this highly unstable and dangerous technology?
Challenge Issues -- Bomb deals with the importance and necessity of a weapon of mass destruction. I would suppose there may be parents who see this as glorifying a horrific invention that would eventually threaten the world with the possibility of catastrophic warfare as never known before. A defense is that the book help students understand how and why the bomb was developed in that it was being equally pursued by Hitler who would no doubt have used it to advance his Third Reich. The book reviews and awards are a good start to showing it’s significance in the view of literary experts and educators.
Part V: Reasons chosen
I had missed feelings about Bomb until I read it. I’m the sort of reader that it’s meant for with a mild interest and understanding of science and a fascination with its role in the geopolitics of our last century. I think it’s a great read for anyone who has that least interest in these matter. It might not be for all young adults but the reluctant readers who is turned off by the likes of Harry Potter as being too fantastical are certainly possible candidates. I look forward to incorporating it into my reader’s advisory efforts to see how many young people reach out to this award-winning and captivating work.
Part VI: Citations
Biography: Steve Sheinkin. (2013). Teenreads [website]. Retrieved from http://www.teenreads.com/authors/steve-sheinkin-1
Sheinkin, S. (2013). Steve’s bio [webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.stevesheinkin.com/About.html
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