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From the Bookshelf of 2013 Hub Reading Challenge…

Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

Steve Sheinkin

Discussion: Nonfiction Award

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Nonfiction Award

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What Members Thought

Jan 25, 2013 Donna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfiction, science, teen, history

Part history, part science, part spy thriller ... Three parallel story lines follow the American & British effort to build a nuclear bomb; the American, British and Norwegian effort to block Germany from building their own bomb; and the Soviet effort to steal American and British nuclear secrets.

All three stories are driven by fascinating characters: the impassioned scientists who are willing to drop everything at a moments notice to join a project that they're told nothing about, the earnest yo ...more

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Jan 07, 2013 Staci rated it it was amazing

Shelves: yalsa-award-lists-2012

While my elementary and middle school years were at the end of the cold war, the thought of nuclear war was one that frightened me greatly and caused me anxiety but I digress.
Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin is a fascinating read that takes you from the discovery of the splitting to the atom to the realization that this would create the world’s most prolific weapon to the race to be the first to build it and beyond.

We all know that the Amer While my elementary and middle school years were at the end of the cold war, the thought of nuclear war was one that frightened me greatly and caused me anxiety but I digress.
Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin is a fascinating read that takes you from the discovery of the splitting to the atom to the realization that this would create the world’s most prolific weapon to the race to be the first to build it and beyond.

We all know that the Americans succeeded in being the first with the bomb and the first to use it with devastating consequences for the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki but that still did not make this read any less compelling. Sheinkin was able to make this into a page turner, as the race began and all sides tried to be the first at any cost to build the bomb.

While, this book covered a lot of detail and included many people, I think Sheinkin did an excellent job of engaging the reader by keeping the chapters short while including pictures and names of the key players for each new section of the book. He could have also bogged us down with all the minutiae of the science behind the bomb but managed to make that engaging as well.
Of course, the most intriguing aspect of the book was the spy story that was interwoven into it. Spies for the KGB in the U.S. and members of the Norwegian Resistant trained by the British to sneak back in and blow up their own power plant to stop the Germans kept this story going.

However, the most compelling part was what happened after the first bombs were used on Japan. The shear horror and the realization of the utter destruction weighed heavily on all involved from the scientists to the men who flew in the Enola Gay and dropped the bombs.
Sheinkin ends the book with an epilogue that follows up on many of the key players but also what happened with the arms race through the twentieth century and up to present day.

Overall, a fascinating and captivating read that I will be passing on to students and even booktalking as a nonfiction companion to the book Compound by SA Bodeen.
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Apr 11, 2013 Samantha Tai rated it liked it

Shelves: yalsa-2013-hub-reading-challenge, 2013

This is the story of how the atomic bomb came into being. While this may seem like a boring topic, the author Steve Sheinkin, makes the subject very interesting. Instead of how the bomb was built, Sheinkin focuses on the people who made the bomb possible. The book focuses on three aspects of this period: The Americans who were trying to build the bomb, the Soviets who were trying to steal the bomb and the Allies who were trying to sabotage the German bomb project.

I wasn't very familiar with this ...more

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Jul 29, 2012 Shaeley Santiago rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2013hubchallenge, young-adult, non-fiction

Fascinating story about the creation of the atomic bomb first by the U.S. and then the Soviets. Sheinkin tells the story from several different perspectives. Photos and documents included as well.
#2013hubchallenge

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Nov 28, 2012 Kristen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2013, young-adult, reviewed, true-crime, history, science, middle-grade, hub-challenge-2013

This book was just astonishingly good. I'm ashamed to admit, despite having a physicist grandfather who spent his entire career at the Los Alamos lab (years after the bomb was built, but still), I knew next to nothing about the building of the atomic bomb, so I decided I had to read this. Plus, it won a bunch of awards. Those awards were very well deserved. The book is such a thrilling, exciting, fun read. I kept having to tell people all of the stories I was learning from this because I found i ...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Sarah rated it liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, historical, children, science, awards, thriller

A really solid nonfiction book for children, but I had trouble focusing on it. The beginning was slow and while it really took off in the middle and sprinted to the end, I just had a hard time getting started. However I don't blame the book for this -- I generally loathe war non-fiction so it probably has more to do with my personal tastes than the quality of the book. ...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Elizabeth rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfiction, history, 2013, 2013hubchallenge, morris-nonfic-challenge-2012, nonfiction-award-finalist

I went into this book expecting dry history and science like so many other books I've read about the Manhattan Project and the nuclear arms race. Wow, was I wrong. This book read just like a spy thriller and was all-around amazing, most deserving of the Newbery Honor and YALSA Nonfiction Awards it received.

Book #1 of 2013 Hub Challenge COMPLETE. ...more

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Feb 17, 2013 Karl rated it really liked it

Shelves: hubchallenge2013

An extraordinary, international look at the nuclear arms race in its infancy. To me, the story of the Manhattan Project was familiar, especially since I recently read Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb. What was new to me was all the espionage, the commando raids against German heavy water facilities, and the view from the Soviet side. ...more

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May 27, 2013 Chelsea rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, favorites, ya, newbery

so pleasantly surprised! this is something I would never have picked up on my own, neither the subject matter nor the cover would be appealing to me. because I had to read it for a class, I wanted to get it out of the way. I adore being taken by surprise by a book. maybe that is why I gave it 5 stars, or maybe it's just that good! ...more

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Feb 01, 2013 Frances rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2013, tween, nonfiction

Really wonderful and suspenseful. I was never interested in war or weapons as a kid (and I still wouldn't say I have a military mind), but this sucked me in. Sheinkin balances science, characters, pacing, and politics to create a truly incredible story. ...more

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Jan 25, 2013 Mary rated it really liked it

A total learning experience about spies, the Cold War and THE BOMB. The book has the pace of a fiction thriller and I think this will win points with teens. One of my favorite YA non-fiction books of 2012.

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Dec 07, 2012 Marta Boksenbaum rated it really liked it

Shelves: teen-lit, z2013yalsa-challenge

If anyone can get me to read a whole nonfiction book it's Steve Sheinkin. He makes topics interesting and compelling though his casual but authoritative writing style. Bomb followed the many people involved during the creation of the first atomic bomb, and made it sound just as exciting as it was. He made the science simple but not too dumbed down so young people can understand without sifting though dry paragraphs full of equations. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the subjec ...more

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