Title: Shin's Tricycle
Author: Tatsuharu Kodama
Publisher: Walker and Company
Genre: Picture Book/Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 32
Discovery of Book: Search word "Hiroshima" in the library catalog
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Awards: Book Links, Booklist starred, Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books, Elementary School Library Collection, Kirkus Review
Summary: Shin's Tricycle is a somber story about the struggle of a father to get over the death of his three children during the bombing of Hiroshima. The father tells the reader about his son Shin, 3 years old, and his two daughters, Michiko and Yoko. Shin desperately wants a tricycle for his fourth birthday; however the war is bringing hard times on all families of Japan. Luckily one day Shin's uncle gives him the tricycle he had been longing for just before his uncle left for active duty. Shin rides the tricycle endlessly until the morning of August 6, 1945 when a huge flash shocks the town of Hiroshima. After the blast, the father describes his endless search for his three children, finding his two daughters dead and Shin barely holding on to life. Eventually Shin passes and the father and his wife bury their three children and the tricycle. The story ends years later as the father accidentally digs up the tricycle, along with mounds of emotions.
Personal Connection: This story is extremely heart-wrenching, especially since it is told from the point of view of a father who helplessly watches his three children die during the bombing of Hiroshima. Shin's Tricycle touched me deeply as someone who helped raise their younger brother and sister. The thought of watching them pass on while not being able to help them is devastating to think about. When the father in the story exclaimed, "I spotted the edges of two little dresses trapped beneath the roof... With all my strength, I tried to lift the roof beams, but couldn't...Suddenly, the beam on top of Michiko and Yoko burst into flames (Kodama,1992,p. 16)," my heart sank to the floor. Hearing the struggle and pain in the father's voice brought tears to my eyes and a feeling of wanting to jump into the book to help him save his little girls!
Classroom Usage: Shin's Tricycle would be an excellent story to introduce middle school students to the travesty of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Through teacher read-aloud or by Literature Circle, Shin's Tricycle allows students to gain knowledge about an intense time period. The students would be able to discuss whether or not the use of the atomic bomb was truly necessary and why. Furthermore, the students could pull out ideas from the story that could help support whether or not this time period was a holocaust. Students would be able to think critically about how the events of Hiroshima fall into the definition of a holocaust while learning multicultural history that they might not yet been taught.
Author: Tatsuharu Kodama
Publisher: Walker and Company
Genre: Picture Book/Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 32
Discovery of Book: Search word "Hiroshima" in the library catalog
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Awards: Book Links, Booklist starred, Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books, Elementary School Library Collection, Kirkus Review
Summary: Shin's Tricycle is a somber story about the struggle of a father to get over the death of his three children during the bombing of Hiroshima. The father tells the reader about his son Shin, 3 years old, and his two daughters, Michiko and Yoko. Shin desperately wants a tricycle for his fourth birthday; however the war is bringing hard times on all families of Japan. Luckily one day Shin's uncle gives him the tricycle he had been longing for just before his uncle left for active duty. Shin rides the tricycle endlessly until the morning of August 6, 1945 when a huge flash shocks the town of Hiroshima. After the blast, the father describes his endless search for his three children, finding his two daughters dead and Shin barely holding on to life. Eventually Shin passes and the father and his wife bury their three children and the tricycle. The story ends years later as the father accidentally digs up the tricycle, along with mounds of emotions.
Personal Connection: This story is extremely heart-wrenching, especially since it is told from the point of view of a father who helplessly watches his three children die during the bombing of Hiroshima. Shin's Tricycle touched me deeply as someone who helped raise their younger brother and sister. The thought of watching them pass on while not being able to help them is devastating to think about. When the father in the story exclaimed, "I spotted the edges of two little dresses trapped beneath the roof... With all my strength, I tried to lift the roof beams, but couldn't...Suddenly, the beam on top of Michiko and Yoko burst into flames (Kodama,1992,p. 16)," my heart sank to the floor. Hearing the struggle and pain in the father's voice brought tears to my eyes and a feeling of wanting to jump into the book to help him save his little girls!
Classroom Usage: Shin's Tricycle would be an excellent story to introduce middle school students to the travesty of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Through teacher read-aloud or by Literature Circle, Shin's Tricycle allows students to gain knowledge about an intense time period. The students would be able to discuss whether or not the use of the atomic bomb was truly necessary and why. Furthermore, the students could pull out ideas from the story that could help support whether or not this time period was a holocaust. Students would be able to think critically about how the events of Hiroshima fall into the definition of a holocaust while learning multicultural history that they might not yet been taught.
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