And Then the Sky Exploded [Paperback]

2018 Red Maple Award  Shortlisted High Plains Book Award  Shortlisted, Young Adult category
When Christian learns his great-grandfather helped build the A-bombs dropped on Japan, he wants to make amends & somehow.

While attending the funeral of his great-grandfather, ninth-grader Christian Larkin learns that the man he loved and respected was a member of the Manhattan Project, the team that designed and created the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during the Second World War.

On a school trip to Japan, Chris meets eighty-one-year-old Yuko, who was eleven when the first bomb exploded over Hiroshima, horribly injuring her. Christian is determined to do something to make up for what his great-grandfather did. But after all this time, what can one teenager really do? His friends tell him its a stupid idea, that theresnothinghe can do. And maybe theyre right.

But maybe, just maybe & theyre wrong.Yukos story and her meeting with Christian are worth reading and can start the conversation with young readers about Hiroshima and Nagasaki.David A. Poulsen has been a broadcaster, teacher, football coach, and actor, who spends eighty to one hundred days each year as a visiting author in schools across Canada. He is the author of more than twenty books, includingOld Man, which was shortlisted for the Forest of Reading White Pine award, andNumberswhich won the Sakura Medal in Japan. He lives in the foothills west of Claresholm, Alberta.A compelling story with strong characters whom the reader will find believable as well as likeable. This memorable addition to Hiroshima literature should resonate with readers.A great novel to begin the dialogue about nuclear disarmament, the realities of warfare, and the role of the individual in the global village.A powerful story about forgiveness, healing and coming to terms with the sins of the past.CHAPTER ONE

It was hot in the church. Hot and sticky. Uncomfortabllc2