From the Publisher
[set star] "Delivers readers into the middle of a harrowing, if neglected, piece of history."—Kirkus Reviews (starred)
Publishers Weekly
- Publisher's Weekly
WWII changes traditional ways of life in the Bikini Atoll forever in what PW's starred review called "a haunting, soundly researched work." Ages 12-up. (Aug.)
The ALAN Review
- Donald R. Gallo
Sorry Rinamu and his family are happy to be rid of the Japanese soldiers who had occupied their small Pacific island in the early 1940s. But in 1946 they learn that their home on beautiful Bikini Atoll will become the testing ground for American atomic bombs. They must leave their peaceful ancestral land, though authorities have promised they will be able to return in two years. When sixteen-year-old Sorry learns about the potential effects of radiation, he feels he must do something to stop the planned testing. Theodore Taylor, who was an officer on one of the U.S. ships that prepared Bikini Atoll for the atomic explosions, has affectionately recreated the tranquility and beauty of that remote place along with the feelings of loss and betrayal that the natives faced. In light of recent French nuclear testing and the protests thereof, this story is particularly poignant.
Children's Literature
- Jyotsna Sreenivasan
This unusual novel tells the story of the 1946 atomic bomb tests on the island of Bikini through the eyes of a teenage boy. Sorry Rinamu and his fellow islanders feel grateful to the American soldiers for defeating the Japanese, who had been mistreating them. Two years later, when the islanders learn that the Americans want to test their horrific new bomb in Bikini atoll, the islanders do not feel they can refuse to relocate. But Sorry's uncle Abram devises a protest plan: he will paint a canoe red and sail it into Bikini atoll right before the bomb is to drop. He hopes the airplanes will see the canoe and stop the bombing. When Abram dies suddenly, Sorry, schoolteacher Tara Malolo, and Sorry's grandfather Jonjen carry out the plan themselves-with the result that they are killed instantly when the bomb hits. The book is interspersed with an atomic bomb timeline and a factual epilogue that details the hardships the islanders faced after the bomb. Author Taylor, who was a deck officer during the Bikini testing, has written a fascinating novel that brings home the absurdity and tragedy of the atomic bomb tests.
School Library Journal
Gr 6-10-Sorry Rinamu is a teenager who lives on Bikini Atoll. Shortly after the Americans liberate his island in 1944, the Americans decide to use it as a site for atomic testing. With the promise that people could return to their island in two years-and contrary to the objections of Sorry's Uncle Abram, who argues that it would never again be safe to inhabit-the islanders agree to the plan. When Abram dies suddenly, Sorry vows to fulfill his uncle's intention to stop the tests and is joined by several others. But a serious misjudgment leads the young man and his companions to be blown up during the test. Taylor takes readers on an absorbing excursion, offering vivid descriptions, rich details of Micronesian culture, and a poignant contrast between the peaceful tranquility of the Marshall Islands and the industrialized West. The plot moves briskly with the tension of heroic confrontation. Readers will be challenged with the issues of war, the ethics of nuclear weapons, and the destruction of ancient cultures.-Tim Rausch, Crescent View Middle School, Sandy, UT
