Japan
Soul Lanterns
By Shaw Kuzki, Emily Balistrieri (Translator)
Soul Lanterns. Shaw Kuzki. Translated by Emily Balistrieri. Delacorte Press, 2021. Originally published as 光のうつしえ 廣島 ヒロシマ 広島 (Hikari no utsushie Hiroshima Hiroshima Hiroshima) in Japanese by Kodansha, Ltd., in Tokyo, in 2013. ISBN 9780593174357. 176 p. (Ages 10-14). Fiction.
Every year on August 6, 12-year-old Nozomi joins her family and the rest of the community in a lantern-floating ceremony to honor those who lost their lives in the atomic bomb explosion. This year, Nozomi begins to ask questions about the people who died and discovers every survivor has a story as well. She and her friends use art to creatively share survivors’ experiences, and the community learns each others’ stories. A 2021 Freeman Book Award Selection of Note. Consider using the Hiroshima peace museum website for programming resources; includes information about scheduling an A-bomb survivor testimony via video conferencing. [all]