And Then the Sky Exploded

Gr 6–8—When Chris attends the funeral of his great-grandfather, affectionately called GG Will, he is shocked to see protesters outside the church. Though his family won't talk about it, Chris eventually learns that GG Will, a brilliant scientist, worked on the Manhattan Project. Chris researches the atomic bomb and eventually gets to go on a school trip to Japan. He is haunted by the image of a Japanese girl whom only he can see, and he tries to explain his obsession to his friend: "I have this weird idea that I can go over there and do something, you know, something that would somehow make up for what GG Will did." Later, Chris discovers that GG Will signed a petition against using the bomb, and in Japan, he meets an elderly survivor of the bomb, Yuko, whose experiences are threaded throughout the narrative in alternating chapters. Poulsen packs too many contrivances into his message-laden plot. Both central and secondary characters are undeveloped, especially Chris's deaf best friend and a Muslim girlfriend. Better options for readers who want to understand the atomic bomb's role in history include Steve Sheinkin's acclaimed nonfiction account Bomb and Ellen Klages's novel The Green Glass Sea.