I hope that many will read this heartwarming story and have their faith in humanity restored. Rev. Robert M. Hardies, All Souls Church, Unitarian, Washington, D.C. For most Americans, the word Hiroshima summons up an image of the mushroom cloud that resulted from the explosion of the first atomic bomb, but how the everyday people in Hiroshima lived, both before and after the bomb, is often not part of that picture. This book provides a glimpse of that everyday existence through the eyes of a child who was affected by the bomb, certainly, but who found joy in simple pleasures and who was filled with hope, even in the midst of despair. The book thus offers a refreshingly different perspective on one of world history s most pivotal events. Gretchen Jones, professor of Japanese literature, University of Maryland University College This is a book that will take your breath away! Shizumi tells the true and heartfelt story of how memories of war define us and change us.... The one little cosmos flower brings hope to the world and remains as relevant today as it did in 1945. The book... leads into a broader discussion of the ravages of war, the loss of life, and the importance of compassion and forgiveness. Portia Davidson, retired workforce-policy advisor to the commandant of the United States Coast Guard A tremendous story that reveals on the personal level the tragic suffering of those at ground zero, how the atomic bomb affected lives, and how the people emerged positive and moving forward. This is a wonderful book with a story that needs to be told. Joan Grant, Colorado public-school librarian
The nuclear devastation and its impact on Hana, who lost her family, is described eloquently. Yet there is a balance in the inspiring and sometimes funny descriptions of the students school life during the aftermath of the bombing. Just as the paintings the children made of the life they remember and hope for are vivid and colorful, the contrasting passages of Hana s memories before the bomb and her later life create a positive framework for the months of sickness and hunger and horror in the center of the book. The final story of a relationship between the Japanese students and the Americans speaks to the resilience of humans without soft-pedaling the truth of the damage done. Notes at the end of the book will be helpful for using this important book in schools. Sally Hamilton, elementary-school teacher, chair of a Japanese-American student exchange program for junior-high students
RUNNING WITH COSMOS FLOWERS
SHIZUMI SHIGETO MANALE and RICHARD MARSHALL RUNNING WITH COSMOS FLOWERS The CHILDREN of HIROSHIMA PELICAN PUBLISHING COMPANY Gretna 2014
Copyright 2014 By Shizumi Shigeto Manale and Richard Marshall All rights reserved The word Pelican and the depiction of a pelican are trademarks of Pelican Publishing Company, Inc., and are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Manale, Shizumi Shigeto. Running with cosmos flowers : the children of Hiroshima / Shizumi Shigeto Manale and Richard Marshall. pages cm Summary: After months of seeking family members with the aunt she was visiting when Americans dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945, seven-year-old Hanako finally goes back to school and gets on with a life that leads, eventually, to her visiting Washington, D.C. and the church that provided them humanitarian aid. Based on first-hand accounts and interviews with survivors, and illustrated with paintings by Hiroshima children. ISBN 978-1-4556-1966-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4556-1967-2 (e-book) 1. Hiroshima-shi (Japan) History Bombardment, 1945 Juvenile fiction. [1. Hiroshima-shi (Japan) History Bombardment, 1945 Fiction. 2. Atomic bomb Fiction. 3. Orphans Fiction. 4. Survival Fiction. 5. Japan History 1945-1989 Fiction.] I. Marshall, Richard, 1946- II. Title. PZ7.M312155Run 2014 [Fic] dc23 2014017934 Note: An asterisk marking the first appearance of a certain term indicates that a definition may be found in the glossary at the back of the book. Printed in the United States of America Published by Pelican Publishing Company, Inc. 1000 Burmaster Street, Gretna, Louisiana 70053
For my mother, Midori Nosohara, and my husband, Andy S. S. M. For my father R. M.
RUNNING WITH COSMOS FLOWERS