Sachiko

This striking work of narrative nonfiction tells the true story of six-year-old Sachiko Yasui's survival of the Nagasaki atomic bomb on August 9, 1945, and the heartbreaking and lifelong aftermath. Having conducted extensive interviews with Sachiko Yasui, Caren Stelson chronicles Sachiko's trauma and loss as well as her long journey to find peace. This book offers readers a remarkable new perspective on the final moments of World War II and their aftermath.

In novels such as Silence, Endō Shūsaku examined the persecution of Japanese Christians in different historical eras. Sachiko, set in Nagasaki in the painful years between 1930 and 1945, is the story of two young people trying to find love during yet another period in which Japanese Christians were accused of disloyalty to their country. In the 1930s, two young Japanese Christians, Sachiko and Shūhei, are free to play with American children in their neighborhood. But life becomes increasingly difficult for them and other Christians after Japan launches wars of aggression. Meanwhile, a Polish Franciscan priest and former missionary in Nagasaki, Father Maximillian Kolbe, is arrested after returning to his homeland. Endō alternates scenes between Nagasaki—where the growing love between Sachiko and Shūhei is imperiled by mounting persecution—and Auschwitz, where the priest has been sent. Shūhei’s dilemma deepens when he faces conscription into the Japanese military, conflicting with the Christian belief that killing is a sin. With the A-bomb attack on Nagasaki looming in the distance, Endō depicts ordinary people trying to live lives of faith in a wartime situation that renders daily life increasingly unbearable. Endō’s compassion for his characters, reflecting their struggles to find and share love for others, makes Sachiko one of his most moving novels.

Although at first five-year-old Sachiko is upset when her grandmother no longer recognizes her, she grows to understand that they can still be happy together.

"Six-year-old Sachiko and her family suffered greatly after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, and in the years that followed, the miraculous survival of a ceramic bowl became a key part of Sachiko's journey toward peace"--

The first English-language collection of the titular artist, "The Art of Sachiko Kaneoya" chronicles the creator's work and themes for nearly a decade, showcasing the monstrous, the romantic, and the mortal suffering of her subjects. Inspired by anime and manga from the 50s and 90s, Kaneoya's global contingent of fans has never had a easily-obtainable volume of her work... until now.

Winner of the 2022 Mildred L. Batchelder Award A July/August 2021 Kids' Indie Next Pick A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection From renowned Japanese children's author Sachiko Kashiwaba, Temple Alley Summer is a fantastical and mysterious adventure featuring the living dead, a magical pearl, and a suspiciously nosy black cat named Kiriko. Kazu knows something odd is going on when he sees a girl in a white kimono sneak out of his house in the middle of the night--was he dreaming? Did he see a ghost? Things get even stranger when he shows up to school the next day to see the very same figure sitting in his classroom. No one else thinks it's weird, and, even though Kazu doesn't remember ever seeing her before, they all seem convinced that the ghost-girl Akari has been their friend for years! When Kazu's summer project to learn about Kimyo Temple draws the meddling attention of his mysterious neighbor Ms. Minakami and his secretive new classmate Akari, Kazu soon learns that not everything is as it seems in his hometown. Kazu discovers that Kimyo Temple is linked to a long forgotten legend about bringing the dead to life, which could explain Akari's sudden appearance--is she a zombie or a ghost? Kazu and Akari join forces to find and protect the source of the temple's power. An unfinished story in a magazine from Akari's youth might just hold the key to keeping Akari in the world of the living, and it's up to them to find the story's ending and solve the mystery as the adults around them conspire to stop them from finding the truth.